Complexo religioso cristão de Mértola

DESCRIPTION AND FORMAL ANALYSIS

On the northern slope of the Castle hill, there was probably the forum of the city of Myrtilis, the public square of Roman times. Myrtilis is the old name of Mértola.

Creates an artificial platform that rests on the wall and an underground gallery – the cryptoporticus. In the Late Antiquity (5th-8th centuries) there were a number of luxurious religious constructions, decorated with mosaics.

In the Islamic period (12th-13th centuries), the entire area was occupied by an urban district. Following the Christian reconquest, in 1238, this urban district was razed to the ground and turned into a cemetery. The fact that this area was used as a cemetery for a long time means that nothing was built here. The various human occupation layers have been preserved, making this a privileged archaeological research site.

In Late Antiquity (5th through the 7 th century), a set of religious buildings dedicated to Christian worship was built on the north platform of Mértola’s City Wall, on top of the ancient roman forum. From these monumental buildings, we have uncovered a portico, two baptisteries, a basilica and a cryptoporticus which was transformed into a cistern.

The two baptistries have a rectangular floor plant and in the centre they have an octogonal pool with steps. These buildings were richly decorated with mosaics, marble plates in the pavements and fresco paintings in the domes.

The mosaics have remarkable scenes of a knight hunting with a falcon, exotic animals (among them two lions facing each other, a leopard and an ostrich), several birds, a mythological scene of Bellerophon riding Pegasus fighting against the Chimera and several geometric motifs.

VIRGILIO LOPES