As for the Sevanavank Monastery, it is dated back to the 10th century and used to be a “monk prison” – back in the day, this monastery was located on an island and the monks that had sinned would be sent to this monastery as a punishment.
In 1938, Soviet Union decided to use the lake for generating hydro-energy – this would prove to be a big mistake. As a result, the whole ecosystem of the Lake Sevan changed and the well known island where Sevanavank was located became a peninsula.