Mechitarist Monastery

Lonely Planet review

In 1717, the Armenian order of the Mechitarist Fathers (named after the founding father, Mechitar) was granted use of Isola di San Lazzaro degli Armeni, which centuries before had been a leper colony and earlier still the site of a Benedictine hospice for pilgrims. The Mechitarist monastery became an important centre of learning and repository of Armenian culture, which it remains to this day.

Access is by tour only. After wandering around the cloister you are taken to the church, sparkling with mosaics and stuffed with paintings (the Armenian monastery was the only one in Venice spared Napoleon's pillaging). From there you are led to the 18th-century refectory and upstairs to the library. The latter is divided into several rooms with cabinets containing all sorts of odds and ends, including antiquities from Ancient Egypt, Sumeria and India, precious book collections and a room dominated by Armenian art and artefacts.

An Egyptian mummy and a 15th-century Indian throne dominate a room dedicated to the memory of Lord Byron, who stayed on the island in search of (much needed) inner peace. True to his eccentric nature, he could often be seen swimming from the island to the Grand Canal. Lastly, a circular room contains precious manuscripts, many of them Armenian and one dating to the 6th century.