Venice became the sanctuary for Armenian monks at the beginning of the 18th Century. The monks had fled from the Moorish country after the Turkish invasion and the Venetians gave them the island called San Lazzaro which had formerly been a lepers’ colony. A religious order was founded with a monastery and these Mechitarists formed a library that was to become a cultural centre for the Armenian Diaspora. They continued their work and established typography in Armenian characters, collecting here the most ancient manuscripts that they could find.