Friday, March 28, 2025
Arles
We went to Arles, the town that was van Gogh's penultimate painting phase. I shared the Roman coliseum. This the cathedral, oddly labeled as a basilica on signage.
Even if you can ignore the spiritual significance of these medieval buildings, they are awesome reminders of what people with ambition and decades of time can accomplish.
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A cathedral is specifically the Catholic church with the bishop's chair (cathedra is latin for 'chair'). A basilica is what Catholics calls 'significant' churches (spiritual, historical or architectural significance).
ReplyDeleteEspecially in Europe, both basilicas and cathedrals are usually pretty impressive to look at.
Thanks! I knew a cathedral had a bishop, but I did not know why in German they referred to one as a "Dom". I thought it had something to do with being constructed with a dome, like the one in Florence, Brunellesche's Dome. This didn't make sense to me, since the Dom in Salzburg did not have a Dome. To my surprise, a Dom is a collegiate church (equivalent to the Italian duomo, or the English "Minster"); however, as most cathedrals are also collegiate churches, the term "Dom" has become the common term for a cathedral in German, though they are not synonymous.
ReplyDeleteThe official name in German is Kathedrale. They pronounce the final E, and emphasize the second to last syllable.
Thanks, Wayne. I knew the cathedral/parish church distinction from teaching Western Civ, but basilica in that sense was new to me.
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