My Life in Travel

Did you know, that the city of Venice is situated on a group of 118 small islands? There are several tiny islands, which are well known within tourists and travelers, such as Murano or Burano, and everyone who comes to Venice, tries to take a day trip to those colorful islands. But there is also another little islet in the Venetian lagoon, very close to Venice (closer than any other famous island), which is a must to visit, and it is called San Lazzaro Degli Armeni, which literally translates to “Saint Lazarus of the Armenians”. Not everyone is aware about this little place, but it is a real jewel to be discovered.

When we had our short trip to Venice, it was decided to visit this island whatever it takes. Initially we were also planning to spend a day discovering the most popular islands of Venice, such as Morano and Burano, and even go to Lido, if some time was left. But we’ve changed all our plans and decided to visit San Lazzaro first and only after think about other things to do. And this was the best decision we could take. And today I’m going to tell you about this unbelievable place, its treasures and the way you can reach it.

Let’s start from a short historical note. I will not go into deep details but want to mention some fact related to the island. It’s said that the recorded history of the island begins in the 9th century. In the 12th century Leprosy had appeared in Venice. After some time the colony of lepers was established in the island and the hospital was transferred here too. The island received its name from the patron saint of lepers St. Lazarus. Later, in 1348 the church of St. Lazarus was founded. After leprosy was declined in around mid of 16th century, the island was abandoned and by beginning of the 18th century only few ruins have remained. In 1715 a group of twelve Armenian Catholic monks led by Mkhitar Sebastatsi arrived in Venice from Morea following its invasion by the Ottoman Empire. On September 8, 1717 the Venetian Senate ceded San Lazzaro to Mkhitar and his companions, who agreed not to rename the island. Mkhitar designed the plan of the monastery, which included 16 cells for the monks adjusted from the old hospital. The church was also restored together with the bell tower.
When Napoleon Bonaparte disestablished the Venetian Republic in 1797, he abolished all monastic orders except the Mekhitarists in San Lazzaro. He signed a decree, which declared that the congregation may continue to exist as an academy and since then San Lazzaro has also known as an academy. In 1815 Austrian Emperor Francis I gave permission to the Mekhitarists to expand the island.

Right in front of the monastery you will see the bronze statue of Mkhitar and a cross-stone (khachkar), one of the Armenian symbols. When we entered the island, the guide greeted us and all other visitors and invited to the monastery. After getting our tickets we were ready for the tour. For almost 2 hours our guide was taking us from one room to another and telling unbelievable stories. It was hard to follow the information we were receiving and we were listening to each word with open mouths. I’ll share with you just some part of the information we had. Ready?

Today the monastery contains a church with a bell tower, residential quarters for the monks and the students. In one of the rooms of the monastery, which was the first toom we entered, Lord G. Byron lived and studied Armenian language and culture, because, as he said, it is a language God was speaking. In this “Lord Byron Room” (yes, the room bears his name) there is also a small library presented, as originally this was a manuscript room. But it also has a numerous Oriental and Egyptian publications and artifacts. The most notable item in this room is the Egyptian mummy, which sent to San Lazzaro by an Egyptian minister of Armenian origin Boghos Bey Yusufian. It is attributed to Namenkhet Amun, a priest at the Amon Temple in Karnak, and has been dated to 450–430 BC (some sources say 800BC). The collection also includes Etruscan vases, a sarcophagus, Chinese antiques, a princely Indian throne with ivory inlay work, and a rare papyrus in 12 segments in Pali of a Buddhist ritual. Just imagine these treasures!

One of the rooms in the museums was called “Armenian Museum“. It formerly served as the library of Armenian manuscripts and publications. Today it houses items related to Armenian history and art. You can find here helmets and bronze belts from the Urartian period, the sword of the last Armenian King of Cilicia Levon V, Armenian ceramics, coins, stamps and even a passport issued by the 1918–20 First Republic of Armenia. There is also a curtain formerly hang at the monastery of Lim Island on Lake Van, which is believed to have some magical interventions. On the walls you can see several original paintings of marine artist Hovhannes (aka Ivan) Aivazovsky. One of the most ancient swords ever found, originating from Anatolia and dating to the 3rd millennium BC, is also displayed in this museum, as well as the death mask of Komitas with his real beard hairs on it, the musicologist who established the Armenian national school of music.

In the publishing house are kept one of the first typographical machines, as well as some of the first printed books. Here you can see how do these machines look, learn how each word was typed and printed, see some examples of first published books, which were printed in dozens of languages. It was not that easy as is today 🙂

Another room in the museum represents a large library which contains about 200.000 of books in a huge bookstands. If you look closely, you can also see some hidden shelfs which are being closed with a key. About 30.000 European books, that were printed before 1800s, are also kept in this library room. Here you can see books on science, history, art, big encyclopedias and much more. The floor of the library is decorated in Venetian style. It is very old and shaky, but it was decided to to “touch” it with renovations, and use carefully, to keep the original version of floor. The ceiling is also keeps attention with its marvelous paintings and decorations.

Another room of the museum, that requires a big attention is the Manuscripts room which is the greatest treasure of San Lazzaro. Here is one of the biggest repository of manuscripts in Europe, where you can see unique examples of old books from different culture. The current number of manuscripts preserved at San Lazzaro is about 3.000 pieces of complete volumes and about 2,000 fragments. The collection in San Lazzaro is ranked as the third largest collection of Armenian manuscripts in the world after the Matenadaran in Yerevan (Armenia) and the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The manuscript room is designed in a rotunda-shaped tower where in the middle you can see very interesting constriction: if you stay in the middle of it and speak loudly, you can hear the eco of your voice, but people around you won’t hear this eco, they will hear only your voice. Some of the most remarkable exhibits in this room are the first ever printed book in Armenian called Urbatagirk (The Book of Friday), 44 Armenian prayer scrolls, gospels, an old version of Quran and many other books and manuscripts dating back to up to 8th century.

After visiting the all the museums it was time to visit the church which still retains the 14th century pointed arch style after several renovations. The interior was the most interesting, very unlikely to any other Armenian Churches. It combines different cultures and styles: the church itself has a neo-Gothic interior, with the Baroque style main altar (there are four more altars!), in front of which you can see the tomb of Mkhitar. The stained glasses reflect a colorful round shape “picture” on the walls. Above the 6 marble columns there are paintings of Armenian saints. One of the unique examples of books that we saw in this church, which was also still in use during gospels, was a book with Khazes which was partially decoded (Khaz is an Armenian neume, one of a set of special signs constituting the traditional system of musical notation that has been used to transcribe religious Armenian music since the 8th century).

All of this and much more you can see and learn during your guided visit of the island, but for that you’ll need to register at least few hours in advance. We’ve sent a registration request by email and received a confirmation shortly, with all the details on how to get there.

For registration you’ll need to call or send an email to below contacts and mention the number of visitors.
(+39)0415260951
(+39)0415260104
visite@mechitar.org
Important: The only boat (Vaporetto) N20 goes from the pier station San Zaccaria B, next to the San Marco square, exactly at 15:10. The tour starts at 15:25 and lasts about 2 hours. The price of the tour is only 10€.

Note, taking photos inside the museum is strictly forbidden. But you can take memorable photos from all the open areas, as well as the church and typographic museum part.

Beside visiting the monastery museums and the church, you can also spend a nice time in the gardens of the monastery, where monks plant different type of flowers and trees, such as apricots, olives, almonds, etc. And here it comes time to tell you a real magical story that happened in this island.
One of the almond trees, that grows in front of the monastery, was growing, growing, but was not blooming and not giving any harvest. One day one of the monks decided to cut off this tree and plant something else instead. In the next morning, when he took the saw and went to cut the tree, he was shocked with the view he had: the almond tree was full of blossoms! Starting from that day the tree gave harvest every year and proved that miracles exist.

This is far from all that our guide showed us and told interesting stories. There is much more that you need to see and experience yourself. So if you go to Venice, my sincere recommendation is to find time and visit this magical island, step the places where very famous historical monarchs visited during centuries and feel the peace that the island spreads.