About
The island, which was once a leper colony, is now an Armenian monastery and contains an amazing manuscript collection and an eclectic museum.
This little man-made island within the Venetian Lagoon was formerly a colony of medieval lepers but is now home to a wealth of Armenian cultural artifacts. Several Armenian Catholic monks who were being persecuted by the Ottoman Empire fled to Venice in 1715, and the Venetian Senate granted them ownership of the island of San Lazzaro in 1717. They constructed a monastery, which has served as one of the foremost hubs for Armenian studies and is home to a wealth of historical, artistic, and religious treasures.
