San Lazzaro Travel Guide

 sandysmith Says:  I'd read somewher that the grounds of the monastery had lovely white peacocks - well we didn't see any as the walkway around the island where cordoned off :-S The only other thing of not was this strange art exhibit by the Danish–Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson - installed... 

 sandysmith Says:  The tour starsts in the restored church - gaily decorated with bright moasics of various saints - and the friendly amiable priest relates the history in the various languages - I must admit I drifted off at this point but did enjoy just sitting in the cool, admiring the... 

 sandysmith Says:  This square shaped island was a former leper colony up until the 16th century - indeed its name comes from St. Lazarus, the patron saint of lepers. . It was "gifted" to an Armenian monk, the Venerable Mekhitar in 1717 who had fleed to Venice in 1715 from his Turkish... 

 sandysmith Says:  I found the librarry and museum more interesting - quite a few artifacts to see as S. Lazzaro houses a 150,000-volume library (not unkike ones we had seen in Prague), as well as a museum with over 4,000 Armenian manuscripts and many Arab, Indian and Egyptian artifacts... 

 sandysmith Says:  The monks of the St. Lazzaro monastery have welcomed visitors for more than two centuries. In 1816, Lord Byron visited San Lazzaro twice a week for six months, to study the Armenian language and to enjoy the monks' comfortable academic lifestyle. A plaque Pic 2) quotes Byron...