cathedral

thumb|São Paulo Cathedral in [[Brazil is a representative modern cathedral built in Neo-Gothic style.]] thumb|right|The Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral in [[Florence in Italy. Its dome by Filippo Brunelleschi, the largest brick dome in the world, is considered a masterpiece of world architecture.]]

A cathedral is a church that contains the 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 their administrative authority.