Santa Maria Maior (Portuguese meaning Saint Mary the Great) is a civil parish in the eastern part of the municipality of Funchal on the island of Madeira.

[3] The chapel was the seat of the parish of Santa Maria Maior until 1508, when the Church of the Sé Catedral was completed, and the parishioners were obligated to transfer there for services.

Its name was given, as some historians believe, because it was constructed in larger proportions than the chapel consecrated in the name of Nossa Senhora da Conceição ordered built by João Gonçalves Zarco (on the present site of the Church of Santa Clara).

[4] Finally, the ruins of the chapel were demolished in 1835, so that in its place (at the beginning of the Rua de Santa Maria Maior) was possible the construction of the Mercado da União (English: Union Market), which too was later removed in 1911.

Santa Maria Maior too was influenced by the evolution of the economic cycles, primarily wheat, sugar and wine, which developed the island in successive decades.