Gavit
Vestibular feature of Mediaeval Armenian monastic architecture / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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, in a Medieval Armenian monastery. It served as narthex (entrance to the church), mausoleum and assembly room, somewhat like the narthex or lite of a Byzantine church.[1] As an architectural element, the gavit was distinct from the church, and built afterwards.[2] Its first known instance is at the Horomos Monastery, dated to 1038, when it was already called "žamatun".[3][2] The term "gavit" started to replace the term zhamatum' from 1181, when it first appears in an inscription at the Sanahin Monastery.[4]