Canonical algebras, introduced by C. M. Ringel in 1984, play an important role in the representation theory of finite-dimensional algebras. They also feature in many other mathematical areas like function theory, 3-manifolds, singularity theory, commutative algebra, algebraic geometry and mathematical physics. We show that canonical algebras are characterized by a number of interesting extremal properties (among concealed-canonical algebras, that is, the endomorphism rings of tilting bundles on...