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Gavit
In a medieval Armenian monastery, a gavit (Armenian: գավիթ; gawit’) or zhamatun (Armenian: ժամատուն; žamatun) is a congressional room or mausoleum added to the entrance of a church, and therefore often contiguous to its west side. It served as narthex (entrance to the church), mausoleum and assembly room, somewhat like the narthex or lite of a Byzantine church. As an architectural element, the gavit was distinct from the church, and built afterwards. Its first known instance is at the Horomos Monastery, dated to 1038, when it was already called "žamatun". The term "gavit" started to replace the term zhamatun' from 1181, when it first appears in an inscription at the Sanahin Monastery.
The gavit, the distinctive Armenian style of narthex, appeared in the tenth and eleventh centuries. The first structures in the 10th century were simple quadrangular buildings without columns and protected by wooden roofs, used as dynastic necropoleis. From the 11th century, the first known zhamatun with a four-columned structure appears in Hoṙomos Monastery, built in 1038 by King Yovhannēs-Smbat. The vault was in the shape of an octogonal cone, and was decorated with superb reliefs.
Many of the first zhamatun or gavits were located in the south of the Armenia in the region of Syunik. The type of construction changed during the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, as found in the monasteries of Saghmosavank of Haritchavank, or Hovhannavank Monastery. They changed again in the late thirteenth century as can be seen in monasteries such as Gandzasar, and gradually ceased to be built in the late Middle Ages.
The general structure of the gavit, with its nine-bayed plan is typical of the nine-bayed plan of mosques from the Abassid period onward, which can be seen from Spain to Central Asia.
The first mention of a "žamatun" appears in the 1038 dedicatory inscription of Horomos Monastery, which also is the oldest known "žamatun", built in 1038:
In the year of the Armenians 487 (ie 1038), I, the šahanšah Yovannēs, son of the šahanšah Gagik, gave my vineyard located in Kołb to this church of mine, Surb-Yovannēs, which I have built in this monastery of Hoṙomos, along with this žamatun...
— Dedicatory inscription of the gavit at Horomos.
The mention of the term gavit for such buildings appears for the first time more than a century later in 1181 in the dedicatory inscription at the Sanahin Monastery by Abbot Yovhannēs:
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Gavit
In a medieval Armenian monastery, a gavit (Armenian: գավիթ; gawit’) or zhamatun (Armenian: ժամատուն; žamatun) is a congressional room or mausoleum added to the entrance of a church, and therefore often contiguous to its west side. It served as narthex (entrance to the church), mausoleum and assembly room, somewhat like the narthex or lite of a Byzantine church. As an architectural element, the gavit was distinct from the church, and built afterwards. Its first known instance is at the Horomos Monastery, dated to 1038, when it was already called "žamatun". The term "gavit" started to replace the term zhamatun' from 1181, when it first appears in an inscription at the Sanahin Monastery.
The gavit, the distinctive Armenian style of narthex, appeared in the tenth and eleventh centuries. The first structures in the 10th century were simple quadrangular buildings without columns and protected by wooden roofs, used as dynastic necropoleis. From the 11th century, the first known zhamatun with a four-columned structure appears in Hoṙomos Monastery, built in 1038 by King Yovhannēs-Smbat. The vault was in the shape of an octogonal cone, and was decorated with superb reliefs.
Many of the first zhamatun or gavits were located in the south of the Armenia in the region of Syunik. The type of construction changed during the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, as found in the monasteries of Saghmosavank of Haritchavank, or Hovhannavank Monastery. They changed again in the late thirteenth century as can be seen in monasteries such as Gandzasar, and gradually ceased to be built in the late Middle Ages.
The general structure of the gavit, with its nine-bayed plan is typical of the nine-bayed plan of mosques from the Abassid period onward, which can be seen from Spain to Central Asia.
The first mention of a "žamatun" appears in the 1038 dedicatory inscription of Horomos Monastery, which also is the oldest known "žamatun", built in 1038:
In the year of the Armenians 487 (ie 1038), I, the šahanšah Yovannēs, son of the šahanšah Gagik, gave my vineyard located in Kołb to this church of mine, Surb-Yovannēs, which I have built in this monastery of Hoṙomos, along with this žamatun...
— Dedicatory inscription of the gavit at Horomos.
The mention of the term gavit for such buildings appears for the first time more than a century later in 1181 in the dedicatory inscription at the Sanahin Monastery by Abbot Yovhannēs: