Cathedral

A cathedral (French: cathédrale from Latin: cathedra, "seat" from the Greek kathedra (καθέδρα), seat, bench, from kata "down" + hedra seat, base, chair) is a Christian church which contains the seat of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. The counterpart term for such a church in German is Dom from Latin domus ecclesiae or domus episcopalis; also Italian Duomo, Dutch Domkerk and cognates in many other European languages. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox, and some Lutheran and Methodist churches. Church buildings embodying the functions of a cathedral first appear 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.

Cathedral (album)

Cathedral is an album by Castanets, released on October 19, 2004 through Asthmatic Kitty. Part of the album was recorded live and includes a dozen local musicians. Led by Raymond Raposa, this is the band's first foray into studio recording, which he described as 'a really protracted, uncomfortable process'. The release features guest-vocals by Brigit DeCook and Liz Janes. The material was partly recorded in a remote cabin in Northern California. Raposa had planned to publish a novel to accompany the album, which failed to surface.

Critical acclaim

Amanda Petrusich of Pitchfork.com compared Raposa's writing on Cathedral to that of the poet Seamus Heaney. She described the album as a collection of 'deep gothic ballads' of 'country music [that] should sound like death, and more specifically, death-by-murky-submersion'. Heather Phares of allmusic.com referred to the religious overtones of the album, describing it as 'spiritual searching' and as having 'a certain dark theatricality'. Justin Cober-Lake at popmatters.com described Cathedral as having 'lo-fi production [which] helps develop the darkness of Castanets’ music. [It] sounds as if it was recorded in the desert at night, which suits the pre-technology fears of the album'. Jon Pit from Dusted Magazine called it 'another welcome installment in the folk renaissance' although he described Raposa's vocals as 'lacklustre'.

Cathedral (board game)

Cathedral is a two-player abstract strategy board game in which two factions ("dark" and "light") vie for territorial supremacy within the bounds of a medieval city. The game is produced by Chrisbo I.P. Holdings Limited in New Zealand.

History

Cathedral was invented between 1962 and 1979 by Robert Moore (16 August 1942 – 19 June 1998), a pilot in the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Inspiration for the game was provided by Christchurch Cathedral and its environs in Christchurch, New Zealand. From the air, Moore was fascinated by the way the cathedral and neighbouring buildings intricately fitted together, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. He conceived of a game involving players trying to build interlocking buildings around a cathedral.

In 1979 Moore presented a prototype version of his game to Brightway Products, a New Zealand wooden toy and game company. Two versions of the game were originally created: a "formal piece" using three-dimensional wooden models of mediaeval buildings and towers; and an "abstract piece" consisting of two-dimensional squares. The formal piece proved more popular and is the only version produced today; in Standard, Tournalux (larger), and Grandelux (larger and higher quality) versions. The game was also recreated from as early as 1985 (from Mattel) in a more consumer accepted version in plastic moulded version with very highly detailed parts as well as a grided locking system added to the board.