Destruction of Church at Chehel Metraji Square in Tehran

The Adventist Church, which was an architectural legacy of the modernism period and was located just steps away from the Chehel Metraji Square in Tehran, was demolished overnight. The cross of this church was the largest concrete cross in Tehran and Iran and was one of the city’s identity landmarks. The interior of this church was destroyed overnight in Tir 1394.

The danger of destruction and the issue of nighttime sabotage was reported to Tehran’s heritage managers by the Safarnvis website several days earlier, but no appropriate response was received. Following up with the district 12 mayor on whether the district had issued permission to demolish the Adventist Church, Mr. Saadati stated: “No new incident has occurred!”

The story of the Adventist Church demolition began in 1394. The owner of the southwestern building adjacent to the church, after purchasing several surrounding buildings, intended to build a tower on Jomhouri Street. One of the purchased houses, which was located exactly south of the church, was the historic Qajar-era Mausalle House, which had been recognized as a valuable monument in Tehran’s detailed urban plan. The Qajar Mausalle House belonged to one of Iran’s last Jewish rabbis. This house was also demolished in the same year, 1394.

Note: I don’t know who first named the intersection of Jomhouri and 30 Tir as the “Chehel Metraji Square,” but precisely in this part of the city, just steps away from that intersection, there was an Adventist church, the house of a Jewish rabbi, and a café-restaurant belonging to the Armenian community called Café Naderi! Mr. Masjed Jamei, you named it, we won’t forget, but it seems it’s not expedient for you to get involved in this matter. At least until today, there’s no reaction from you at all. We won’t forget this either.

After Safarnvis reported the destruction of the Mausalle House, the demolition of the Adventist Church was delayed. However, the owner, after a few months, completely demolished the interior of the church overnight. The altar, ornamental plaster decorated with the Ten Commandments of Moses, and the interior decorations of the Adventist Church were destroyed, and according to local residents’ statements, the owner proceeded to demolish this church overnight.

Safarnvis published another report about the interior destruction of the church, and heritage managers at the time promised cooperation and registration of this structure as the largest church cross in Iran and a symbol of modernist architecture in Tehran. This church was one of the architectural masterpieces of the Second Pahlavi period, with a concrete cross approximately 8 meters high beautifully incorporated into the building’s exterior. The Adventist Church building was constructed in 1328, and its architect remains unknown to this day.

News was released again suggesting the possibility of demolition of the Brelian pen shop. That very shop whose images appeared in the August 28 coup and had been a place to buy luxury and stylish pens for years!

But the demolition story didn’t end there, and in Azar 1396, the Imam’s Executive Headquarters put a portion of Café Naderi, which was located east of this church, up for auction!

Six shares of a land parcel that is being transferred with the current situation and definitively, note that the aforementioned land was part of Hotel Naderi’s courtyard and the buyer will assume ownership rights / Land area: 475.5 square meters / Zone S123 (district scale operation) with a maximum of 6 floors and 340 percent construction density permitted / Amount: 21 billion and 600 million rials / Address: Jomhouri Islami Street, after 30 Tir Street, a portion of Hotel Naderi

The owner intended to purchase this section and annex it to his properties, but when news of the auction was re-released publicly, this time it was the late management of the city council. All managers came to action, and the Executive Headquarters, given the widespread news coverage, announced that the auction would not be conducted for now. It seems not a bad idea to re-read the views of several managers from that time.

Now neither the church remains nor the Mausalle House. At that time, heritage was an organization, and now it has become a ministry! Heritage initially declared this building valuable, but suddenly I don’t know why they issued demolition permission!!! I don’t know what role the Heritage Ministry has in preserving the heritage of this land. If this ministry didn’t exist, what would happen!!!

But the story of destruction and seizure of buildings belonging to the Adventist community didn’t end there. In 1398, a garden belonging to the Adventist community in Chitgar, which had previously been confiscated by the Executive Headquarters, had its trees cut down overnight. A 20,000 square-meter garden—at that time, Ms. Tayebeh Siyavoshi Shahanati, the representative of Tehran’s people in Parliament, followed up on the matter.

Another church of the Adventist community located on Vali Asr Street in Tehran is also not doing well. The wall of this church was decorated three years ago during Nowruz with the name “Nowruz paintings” with stickers and childish elements, something usually done on the walls of kindergartens, not the walls of a sacred place! The trees in this church’s garden are also drying up. Heritage managers and municipality managers, don’t forget that you’ve registered Vali Asr Street as a national monument. If you ever want to demolish here, have historical memory.

We await better days…