A cathedral is a church that contains the seat, or cathedra, of a bishop, serving as the principal church of a diocese. The term refers to the church's status rather than its size or style, although many cathedrals are among the largest and most architecturally ambitious buildings of their age.
England's great medieval cathedrals, including Durham, Lincoln, Salisbury, York, Wells and Canterbury, display the development of Romanesque and Gothic architecture, with soaring vaults, clustered columns, pointed arches, tracery windows and richly carved stonework. Their fittings include choir stalls, screens, bishops' thrones, tombs, brasses and stained glass, which have inspired craftsmen and designers for centuries. St Paul's Cathedral in London, designed by Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of 1666, represents the English Baroque. The Gothic Revival of the nineteenth century drew heavily on cathedral architecture, influencing furniture, metalwork, lighting and domestic interiors, while restorations by architects such as George Gilbert Scott brought new carved oak and brass fittings to many cathedrals. In the antiques world the word also appears in descriptive terms such as cathedral glass, a textured coloured glass, and cathedral-style clocks and bookcases with Gothic arched tops.
