It is hardly an exaggeration to state that my field research into Casa do Fernandez, a nineteenth century monument on Lagos Island, has been - and still is - a bit of a roller coaster ride. Nothing turned out to be the way it seemed. When I managed to retrace the provenance of the statuette that used to be on top of the building (the only thing left of it) to a Portuguese ceramics manufacturer for example, it proved the (finishing of the) building was of much more recent date than until recently assumed. Or when the family who owns it now told me they found slaves chains and shackles in the building, which pointed to a much darker history than that of emancipated returnees. Especially when the real Fernandez showed his true colours, I began to feel a bit like Alice in Wonderland after falling through the looking glass. Which is why it seems fit that this through-the-mirror reflection is called 'Curiouser and Curiouser'.
