Mértola

Mértola, officially the Town of Mértola, is a town and municipality in southeastern Portuguese Alentejo near the Spanish border. In 2021, the population of the municipality was 6,206, in an area of approximately 1,292.87 square kilometres (499.18 mi2): it is the sixth-largest municipality in Portugal. Meanwhile, it is the second-lowest population centre by density with approximately 5.62 persons/1 square kilometre (0.39 mi2) (second to the adjacent Alcoutim). The seat of the municipality is the town of Mértola, which had around 2500 inhabitants at the time of the 2021 census, located on a hill over the Guadiana River. Its strategic location made it an important fluvial commercial port in Classical Antiquity, through the period of Umayyad conquest of Hispania: Mértola's main church (the Church of Nossa Senhora da Anunciação) was the only medieval mosque to have survived the period in Portugal. In 2017 Mértola started the process to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site.