High-relief sculpture of Mkhitar Sebastatsi unveiled on San Lazzaro Island

A high-relief sculpture depicting Mkhitar Sebastatsi kneeling before the Virgin Mary has been ceremoniously unveiled above the entrance to the Armenian Catholic Monastery of San Lazzaro degli Armeni, located on the island of the same name near Venice.

The sculptural composition was created by Venetian artist Giorgio Bortoli, a member of the National Union of Italian Knights.

Mkhitar Sebastatsi was a prominent Armenian theologian and linguist and the founder of the Mekhitarist Order. In 1771, he established the monastery on San Lazzaro Island, which later became a major center of Armenian culture and scholarship.