Santa Cruz da Graciosa - the municipality, which is located on the island of Graciosa. It was in this city are administrative authorities of the island, which is also called "the white island" because of the bright cliffs on the south coast. Santa Cruz da Graciosa - the only town on the island, which is composed of four so-called County: Santa Cruz, San Mateus da Praia, Luz and Guadalupe.

The exact date when the city was founded, is unknown. It is known that the first settlers came from the island of Terceira in about 1450. The main occupations of the early settlers was agriculture. During the XVI-XVII centuries the island is regularly subjected to attacks by pirates and corsairs, so it was decided to build fortifications along the coast to protect against such attacks.

For centuries, in Santa Cruz da Graciosa visited many famous travelers. Famous Portuguese and Brazilian Jesuit missionary António Vieira, who was considered one of the greatest missionary preachers of his time, after a shipwreck while sailing from Brazil to Lisbon, he made a stop in Santa Cruz da Graciosa. Francois Rene de Chateaubriand in 1791, also visited this city on his way to America. And in 1814, the city was visited poet Almeida Garrett, who is considered the founders of Romanticism in Portugal.

"Santa Cruz" in translation from Portuguese means "Holy Cross". It is in honor of the Holy True Cross and the city was named. In Santa Cruz da Graciosa many old churches and chapels, among which is worth visiting the church of God's Mercy and the Church of Santa Cruz and the Chapel of Sao Joao and San Salvador. The city has an interesting historical and ethnographic museum Graciosa.