The architecture of cathedrals, basilicas and abbey church buildings is the architecture of those church buildings which are usually of gigantic size, including most cathedrals, and follow of several branching traditions of form, function and style that stem initially from Early Christian traditions of the Roman Empire
The earliest large churches date from the Roman Empire. As Christianity and the construction of churches and cathedrals spread throughout the world, their manner of building was dependent upon local materials and local techniques. Different styles of architecture developed and their fashion spread, carried by the establishment of monastic orders, by the posting of bishops from one region to another and by the travelling of master stonemasons who served as architects.[1] The styles of the great church buildings are successively known as Early Christian, Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, various Revival styles of the late 18th to early 20th centuries and Modern. Overlaid on each of the academic styles are the regional characteristics. Some of these characteristics are so typical of a particular country or region that they appear, regardless of style, in the architecture of churches designed many centuries apart.
Among the world's largest and most architecturally significant churches, many were built to serve as cathedrals or abbey churches. Among the Roman Catholic churches, many have been raised to the status of "basilica". The categories below are not exclusive. A church can be an abbey, serve as a cathedral, and also be a basilica. Among the great Protestant churches, some, such as Ulm Minster have never served as any of these. Others, such as Westminster Abbey, are former abbeys and cathedrals. Orthodox and Protestant churches do not have designated basilicas, and the term "cathedral" may or may not be used to designate a bishop's principal church. Some significant churches are termed "temples" or "oratories".Among these types of buildings the cathedral is probably the best known, to the extent that the word �cathedral� is sometimes mistakenly applied as a generic term for any very large and imposing church. In fact, a cathedral does not have to be large or imposing, although many cathedrals are. The cathedral takes its name from the word cathedra, or "bishop's throne" (in Latin: ecclesia cathedralis). A cathedral has a specific ecclesiatical role and administrative purpose as the seat of a bishop.
The architectural form which cathedrals took was largely dependent on their ritual function as the chair of a bishop. Cathedrals are places where, in common with other Christian church buildings, the Eucharist is celebrated, the Bible is read, the Order of Service is said or sung, prayers are offered and sermons are preached. But in a cathedral, in general, these things are done with a greater amount of elaboration, pageantry and procession than in lesser church buildings. This elaboration is present in the coursework of important liturgical rites performed by a Bishop, such as Confirmation and Ordination. A cathedral is often the site of rituals associated with local or national Government, the Bishops performing the tasks of all sorts from the induction of a mayor to the coronation of a monarch. Some of these tasks are apparent in the form and fittings of particular cathedrals.
The church that has the function of cathedral is not always a giant building. It might be as small as Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. But often, the cathedral, along with some of the abbey church buildings, was the largest building in any region.
