In September 1940 the Russian Cossacks, who marched to Iran on the pretext of World War II, settled in one of the former capitals of Iran. The Russians built buildings such as a consulate, a theater, a reservoir, and an office in Qazvin cotton mill, and all in all, this place became a place, which in Russian is named Cantor or center.
With the help of road building company in Cantor, they founded this perhaps the smallest church in Iran. When they finally left Iran in the spring of 1945 and crossed the northern borders, Iranians did not have good memories of them. That is why the Cantor Orthodox Church was abandoned for a long time.
Cantor Church is an asymmetrical polygon structure made of red brick. This red church includes a hall, columns, spiral capitals, arches and ledges and is decorated with a gable, brickwork and horseshoe windows. The Mian Sara is brick-paved and has iron fences, and two Russian engineers have been buried under two monumental stones here. The entrance of Cantor Church faces the west, with a gable roof that opens to a small porch with wooden columns inside.
A crucifix wrapped in a crown of flowers, which is the symbol of the Orthodox Christians of the world, is highlighted and beautified with stucco on both sides of the door. In the front hall, which is decorated with stucco, there is a bell tower with a prayer room, skylights and a semi-circular altar facing the east. Two rooms can be seen in the north and south of the hall, which are not accessible today.
Bell Tower
The bell is placed on top of the bell tower of the church with a height of about eleven meters. The hall includes a prayer hall and an altar, on both sides of which there are two rectangular spaces. The mihrab space has a semi-circular plan and a dome is placed on top of it. The space of the prayer hall also has a dome and its side spaces are flat. This church has decorative columns on the exterior. Today, Cantor Church is used to hold handicrafts exhibitions.
White Mosque of Gilan
