In Mértola, the Museum is the Town itself. The Historic Centre is an important scenic complex where buildings are perfectly integrated into the surrounding landscape, as the River Guadiana justified its existence and importance over time. Heritage preservation and protection are the main drivers behind the development of different types of tourist activities, with an emphasis on the historical, social, and economic dimensions.

In the late 1970s, Mértola launched a local development project focused on developing heritage and its relationship with the community and the territory. Forty years later, we can see that there has been important research, development, and dissemination work, reflected not only in the diversity and quality of the research but, above all, in a strategy of dissemination based on museography. This is a dynamic process, which is renewed and rediscovered along the way and is now aiming at an application to be included in the World Heritage list.

The continuity and success of this alliance between museums, heritage, and tourism lies in the involvement of the community and the maintenance of a strong partnership between the various local agents, cemented in a strategy with converging objectives and methodologies. We remain focused on developing a serious and high-quality research work, whose results may be translated into new and innovative projects that are exemplary from the qualitative point of view, capable of attracting to Mértola a flow of visitors/tourists that enable it to retain its population and sustainability.