Santa Cruz (Coimbra)
| Santa Cruz | |
| Civil Parish (Freguesia) | |
 The urbanized area of Santa Cruz extending towards University Hill in the old quarter of Coimbra
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| Official name: Freguesia de Santa Clara | |
| Name origin: Portuguese for holy cross | |
| Country |  Portugal |
|---|---|
| Region | Centro |
| Subregion | Baixo Mondego |
| District | Coimbra |
| Municipality | Coimbra |
| Localities | Baixa, Conchada, Coselhas, Loreto, Montes Claros, Pedrulha |
| River | Mondego |
| Center | Santa Cruz |
| - elevation | 24 m (79 ft) |
| - coordinates | 40°13′40″N 8°26′46″W / 40.22778°N 8.44611°WCoordinates: 40°13′40″N 8°26′46″W / 40.22778°N 8.44611°W |
| Length | 4.57 km (3 mi), Northwest-Southeast |
| Width | 2.31 km (1 mi), Southwest-Northeast |
| Area | 5.56 km2 (2 sq mi) |
| Population | 5,699 (2011) |
| Density | 1,025/km2 (2,655/sq mi) |
| Settlement | c. 1131 |
| - Parish | fl. 1139 |
| - Civil Parish | c. 1835 |
| Timezone | WET (UTC0) |
| - summer (DST) | WEST (UTC+1) |
| Postal Zone | 3000-317 |
| Area Code & Prefix | (+351) 239 XX XX XX |
  Location of the parish seat of Santa Cruz in the municipality of Coimbra
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| Statistics: Instituto Nacional de Estatística | |
| Website: http://www.freguesiadesantacruz.eu | |
| Geographic detail from CAOP (2010) produced by Instituto Geográfico Português (IGP) | |
Santa Cruz is a former civil parish in the municipality of Coimbra, Portugal. In 2013, the parish merged into the new parish Coimbra (Sé Nova, Santa Cruz, Almedina e São Bartolomeu). In 2001, its population was 6866 inhabitants, in an area of 5.56 km² that parallels the north (right) margin of the Mondego River, extending to the village of Adémia in Trouxemil (its density is approximately 1235 inhabitants per km²).
After the Christian conquest from the Moors, Afonso Henriques moved the capital of the kingdom from Guimarães to Coimbra, a strategic location and point of departure for future incursions into the Muslim south.
Afonso Henriques sought the influential support of the Augustinian canons, such as Dom Telo, Dom Teotónio of Bragança and Dom João Peculiar, who from the Romanesque Monastery of Santa Cruz, contributed to the transformation of the city into an important cultural nucleus of the kingdom. Constructed in an area outside the gates of the old city, from 1131, the old monastery was built in the area called Banhos Régios (Portuguese: royal baths). The monastery, later, had an important influence on the diplomatic battle between Afonso Henriques, the Kingdom of Castile and León and the Holy See for the recognition of Kingdom. The delimitation of the historical parochia of Santa Cruz actually occurred before the recognition of the Kingdom, around 1137-1139. The masters of the monastery, such as Fernando Martins de Bulhão (later Anthony of Padua), helped motivate the cultural development of the nation's nobility, profoundly reformulated during the reign of Manuel I.
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