Gavit

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. 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 zhamatum' from 1181, when it first appears in an inscription at the Sanahin Monastery.