Mertola
www.cm-mertola.pt
Installed on the right bank of Guadiana,
Mértola is a small city identified by its castle built by
the Moors, with a XIII century old fort.
At the pre-Roman time, Mértola was already an important
commercial main road, because it was the inner harbor in
the north of the large river. It is there that people
arrived and settled and products circulated coming from the
most remote regions of the ancient Mediterranean world.
The combination of all these factors gave Mértola a high
historical importance in the past. The monuments and the
reference marks of this past are strewn a little everywhere
in the city, always girdled by the old wall, one kilometer
long.
The parish church, whose frontage is mudejar style with
manuelins elements, was built on the site of the old
mosque.
Mertola has three museum sets: the Roman period is visible
in the building of the Town hall; the Islamic time presents
a collection of objects out of ceramics found in the
excavations (IXème - XIIIème century), most important of
the country; one can also see one of the rare Paleo
Christian basilicas of the Iberian peninsula (5th
century).
