Canterbury Cathedral, more correctly Christ Church Cathedral, Canterbury, is the cathedral of the archbishop of Canterbury, the leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Located in Canterbury, Kent, it is one of the oldest Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site. Its formal title is the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ, Canterbury.
Cathedral from the city entrance
The archiepiscopal throne in Canterbury Cathedral
Plan of Canterbury Cathedral before the 1067 fire
Image of Thomas Becket from a stained glass window
A cathedral is a church that contains the cathedra of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and some Lutheran churches. Church buildings embodying the functions of a cathedral first appeared in Italy, Gaul, Spain, and North Africa in the 4th century, but cathedrals did not become universal within the Western Catholic Church until the 12th century, by which time they had developed architectural forms, institutional structures, and legal identities distinct from parish churches, monastic churches, and episcopal residences. The cathedral is more important in the hierarchy than the church because it is from the cathedral that the bishop governs the area under his or her administrative authority.
São Paulo Cathedral in Brazil is a representative modern cathedral built in Neo-Gothic style.
The cathedra of the Pope as Bishop of Rome, Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran
Etchmiadzin cathedral in Vagarshapat, Armenia, believed to be the oldest cathedral in the world.
The Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta is a Catholic cathedral in Nepi, Italy