Santa Maria (Rio Grande do Sul)

Santa Maria on the map of Brazil

Santa Maria (full name Santa Maria da Boca do Monte) is a city in Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil.

It is located at 29 ° 41'03 south latitude and 53 ° 48'25 west longitude, 151 meters above sea level. The population is around 270,000.

Santa Maria is about four hours by bus (that is, about 300 kilometers) from Porto Alegre in the geographical center of Rio Grande do Sul. As home to one of the largest public universities ( Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, UFSM, currently more than 15,000 students) and one of the largest sites of the Brazilian Army and Air Force Santa Maria is very strongly influenced by young people. In addition to the UFSM there is still the UNIFRA (Centro Universitário Franciscano ) and some other private schools.

In January 2013, in a nightclub a severe fire disaster, which fell more than 230 people, in particular students victim occurred in Santa Maria.

Diocese of Santa Maria

The city is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Maria. It is since 2004 headed by Archbishop Hélio Adelar Rubert.