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World's Largest Cathedral...
Which Edifice Takes the Title?

Good question.

Tallest? Widest? Do you want that in square feet or cubic meters? Just the cathedral, or include the chapter house, the cloisters, or any other part of the complex?

The dilemma comes into clearer focus if you take into account local chambers of commerce - who are good at attracting tourists with tall tales...

Size Matters

Yet size alone does not a cathedral make.

A cathedral is defined as a church featuring a cathedra, or bishop's chair, to which local parishes report in as a sort of regional headquarters.

The world's largest religious structure is St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, but it is too big - ironically - and too universal to be considered a cathedral.

Which leaves the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. It is the focal point for the Episcopal church in New York, and therefore a true cathedral. Measuring in at 121,000 square feet or the size of two football fields, (with room left over for the football) it is properly placed at the top of many 'World's Largest Cathedrals' lists.

From here, it gets a little murkier. There are several that claim the title if you read any of a handful of cathedral brochures throughout Europe. However, not one of them agrees with any other, and only the most impolitic lout would point out the fact. (Well, OK, there it is).

For now, the 'Top Ten ' question will continue to go unanswered definitively. That is, until a team of engineers begins setting the ground rules to undertake an unbiased worldwide survey...someday.

In the meantime, an unofficial survey around the Net has provided us with the following list of:

also see in Society -> History of the Middle Ages

also see in Travel -> Notre Dame Paris Photos | European Cathedral Tours