![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gg-engineering.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/gg-san-lazzaro-magritte.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe island of San Lazzaro degli Armeni is a true gem among the islands of the Venetian Lagoon, located across from the Lido and occupied primarily by its monastery; today, its 22 monks are its only inhabitants.<\/p>\n
In 2024, G&G completed an apartment on the Lido of Venice overlooking the southern lagoon. The image above is not a painting by Ren\u00e9 Magritte\u2014one of the leading figures of the 20th-century artistic movement known as Surrealism\u2014but rather the view from the apartment\u2019s dining room. We can note an interesting resemblance to his famous work \u201cThe Empire of Light,\u201d in which we see a landscape composed of just a few elements: a small body of water in the foreground and a house with a large tree dominating the scene, with the sky and vegetation serving as the backdrop. In contrast, the view from the window of this house on the Lido frames an island in the middle of the water, a symbol of powerful isolation and unspoiled beauty. Surrounded by a vast expanse of water, the island seems to emerge like an oasis, a mysterious land far from the chaos of the world.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Today, the island is considered one of the world\u2019s most important centers of Armenian culture and the motherhouse of the Mekhitarist Order. Before being permanently inhabited by Armenian monks beginning in the 18th century, San Lazzaro\u2014in part due to its relatively isolated and sheltered location\u2014was home to the Benedictines of Sant\u2019Ilario, then became a leper colony (hence San Lazzaro, patron saint of lepers), a shelter for the poor, and a refuge for the Dominicans expelled from Crete.<\/p>\n
Finally, in 1717, the Republic of Venice granted it to a group of Armenian monks fleeing Modon in the Peloponnese, who have lived there permanently ever since. Among these monks was Mechitar (now buried on the island inside the church), one of the architects of the revival of Armenian literature, as well as the driving force behind the development of the community of San Lazzaro and its transformation into an important cultural and scientific center.<\/p>\n
It was thanks to him, in fact, that the monastery was restored and the surrounding lands were cultivated, allowing the monks to begin educating their disciples and passing on Armenian culture from generation to generation. In the following decades, a printing press independent of those in Venice was also established, and the library was built. San Lazzaro was such an important center that it was even spared during the Napoleonic invasion, as it was considered an academy of sciences and thus protected by the emperor.<\/p>\n
Of particular interest are the art gallery, the museum, and the library, which house books, manuscripts, and artifacts from around the world. The library holds 170,000 volumes, including 4,500 manuscripts. The art gallery and museum feature unique archaeological finds, including Armenian paintings and artifacts, a plaster cast by Canova depicting Napoleon Bonaparte\u2019s son, and the Egyptian mummy of Nemen Khet Amen, dating from 800 B.C., complete with its sarcophagus. On the ceiling, visitors can admire a splendid painting by Tiepolo depicting an allegory of Justice.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gg-engineering.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/gg-san-lazzaro.webp\")
<\/p>\n
The monks also tend to several rose gardens on the island, and from the rose petals they make a jam called vartanush, prepared according to a traditional Armenian recipe.<\/p>\n
The island also has a long tradition of hospitality toward Armenian and non-Armenian scholars and students, including Lord Byron, who studied Armenian there in 1816. According to legend, in 1907, when Joseph Stalin was forced to leave Russia, he worked here as a bell ringer.<\/p>\n
The present church was built on the site of an older, 12th-century structure. The flat roof was replaced with a vaulted ceiling, and the stone pillars were replaced with red marble columns. The polychrome stained-glass windows are modern: the one in the center depicts Saint Lazarus; the one on the right, Saint Mesrop Mashtots, the creator of the Armenian alphabet; and the one on the left, Saint Isaac. At the foot of the high altar lies the founder and first abbot, Mechitar. He is commemorated by a marble tombstone bearing an Armenian inscription. Five steps lead up to this altar, which, like the others in the church, is constructed of various types of marble. In addition to the high altar, there are four others in the church. The one in the choir, to the visitor\u2019s left, features a crucifix carved from fine white marble. The altar on the right is dedicated to Saint Gregory. The modern painting is a work by No\u00e8 Bordignon and depicts the saint baptizing the Armenian king Tiridates. There is also an altar dedicated to Saint Anthony, patron saint of all Eastern monastic orders. The altarpiece for this altar is by Zugno, a pupil of Tiepolo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The island of San Lazzaro degli Armeni is a true gem among the islands of the Venetian Lagoon. Located across from the Lido and home primarily to its monastery, it is now inhabited solely by 22 monks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29946,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-non-categorizzato"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n