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A gavit (Armenian գավիթ) or zhamatun (Armenian: ժամատուն "žamatun") is often contiguous to the west of a church 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 replaced this term from 1181, when it first appears at the Sanahin Monastery.

History

The gavit, the distinctive Armenian style of narthex, appeared in the tenth and eleventh centuries. The first 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.

Structure

The earliest style of gavit consists of an oblong vault supported by double arches, with an erdik (lantern or oculus) center, and adorned with eight decorated slabs, as seen in the earliest known gavit at Horomos dated 1038. In later types the vault would often be decorated with muqarnas stalactite designs. This early type of muqarnas vault used cut stone in a way similar to that of Seljuk architecture, different from the typical Armenian vault construction, which used thin stoen facing on mortared rubble. This form was replaced by a square room with four columns, divided into nine sections with a dome in the center. The last evolution consists of a gavit without columns and with arched ceilings.

On the west side of the Church of the Holy Redeemer in the Sanahin Monastery complex, the gavit built in 1181 has four tall free-standing internal pillars supporting arches. The pillars and their bases are elaborately decorated. In the same complex, the gavit of the Mother of God church is a three-nave hall with lower arches and less elaborate decorations on the pillars.

• The first known zhamatun is from Horomos, dated 1038. Decorated slabs.
• Gavit in the first style, Sanahin, Sourp Astvatsatsin, 1211 (no vault)
• Gavit in Seljuk style, at the Church of the Holy Apostles in Ani (after 1031, before 1215)
• Gavit of Geghard Monastery (1215-1225, muqarnas vault).
• Gavit in the second style, Sanahin, Sourp Amenakrpitch (undecorated vault)
• Gavit in the second style, Hovhannavank, 1250

References

1. Levon Chorbajian; Patrick Donabédian; Claude Mutafian (1994). The Caucasian knot: the history & geopolitics of Nagorno-Karabagh. Zed Books. p. 84. ISBN 1-85649-288-5.
2. ^ Ghazarian, Armen; Ousterhout, Robert (2001). "A Muqarnas Drawing from Thirteenth-Century Armenia and the Use of Architectural Drawings during the Middle Ages". Muqarnas. 18: 145–146. doi:10.2307/1523305. ISSN 0732-2992.
3. ^ Vardanyan, Edda (1 January 2015). "The Žamatun of Hoṙomos and the Žamatun/Gawit' Structures in Armenien Architecture". Hoṙomos Monastery: Art and History, edited by Edda Vardanyan, Paris : ACHCByz: 207.
4. Vardanyan, Edda (1 January 2015). "The Žamatun of Hoṙomos and the Žamatun/Gawit' Structures in Armenien Architecture". Hoṙomos Monastery: Art and History, edited by Edda Vardanyan, Paris : ACHCByz: 208.
5. Medieval Armenian architecture: constructions of race and nation Christina Maranci – 2001 "Unlike Strzygowski, who stressed the importance of race and nation in the formation of architecture, ... Another structure at Ani also provided Baltrusaitis with an ogive — the narthex or gavit' located at the south side of the church."
6. Ghazarian, Armen; Ousterhout, Robert (2001). "A Muqarnas Drawing from Thirteenth-Century Armenia and the Use of Architectural Drawings during the Middle Ages". Muqarnas. 18: 146. doi:10.2307/1523305. ISSN 0732-2992. The common nine-bayed plan of the gavit calls to mind the typical nine-bayed mosque plan that spread through-out the Islamic world from Central Asia to Spain after the Abbasid era; at the same time, the domed, nine-bayed design was common for the naos of both Byzantine and Armenian church.
7. Ghazarian, Armen; Ousterhout, Robert (2001). "A Muqarnas Drawing from Thirteenth-Century Armenia and the Use of Architectural Drawings during the Middle Ages". Muqarnas. 18: 145. doi:10.2307/1523305. ISSN 0732-2992. lts. Above the square central space was a complex muqarnas vault, measuring just over 5 m on each side, with a central erdik or oculus, which may have originally been covered by a colonnated canopy.
8. Ghazarian, Armen; Ousterhout, Robert (2001). "A Muqarnas Drawing from Thirteenth-Century Armenia and the Use of Architectural Drawings during the Middle Ages". Muqarnas. 18: 151. doi:10.2307/1523305. ISSN 0732-2992. Working similarly with cut stone, the Seljuq muqarnas provide a close technical comparison to Armenian construction. It is worth noting that the corbelled construction of the Armenian muqarnas vaults are technically and structurally closer to the Seljuq examples than they are to typical Armenian vault construction, which had a thin stone facing on a mortared rubble.
9. Nicholas Holding (2006). Armenia: with Nagorno Karabagh. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 161. ISBN 1-84162-163-3.

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