history
The company
It is literally impossible to speak of the origin of Nirvana Studios without first addressing the history of Custom Circus in customcircus.com
The 3 Moons Symbol
The 3 Moons of Nirvana Studios are a fusion of 3 pictograms; Hindu, Celtic and Egyptian, whose message is the cultural confluence between all the cardinal points from the East, West or Middle East. As a logo it represents the 3 founders of the Centro Cultural Alternativo , having been registered as a trademark on the atypical day of February 29, 1996 for Nirvana Produções.
Why Nirvana Studios?
The name Nirvana is lost in the night of time until the genesis of Hinduism as a synonym for peace, balance and wisdom in ourselves. Taking advantage of the analogy that existed in the founding of Nirvana Studios (a woman and two men) with the three pioneers of United Artists (Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks), we skipped the word Studios to remember that in its beginnings, Hollywood was humbly built with boards and tarpaulins and the 7th Art was despised by the cultural elites of the time.
Tour Map
This outdoor or digital gallery exposes the entire history of the Centro Cultural Alternativo through multimedia content. The route has 80 markers, most of which are visible on Nirvana Boulevard .
The Military Hangars
Purchased in ruins with auto financing by the company Custom Circus , this former barracks of the Estado Novo was the warehouse of the Military Road , the Army's logistics base for the convoys of trucks that moved with loads of bombs, ammunition and weaponry.
Despite being deactivated by the Army in 1984, for their major restoration phases the Custom Circus were mainly inspired by the framework of the 1st generation of Soldiers in this unit, men from a more romantic era who set sail to Lisbon to court the maidens who awaited them in cabarets and driving rough demobilized trucks from World War II that traveled the Military Road by train. And it is quite true that at that time the local population whispered respectfully about these mysterious caravans that circulated on moonless nights ...
The Military Road
66 is the real door number of this barracks in its original project. The Military Road that flanked it opened in 1902 while the famous Route 66 opened in 1926.
It took 39 years of construction to complete this 70 km road trench, which was a national defense device called Campo Entrincheirado de Lisboa . Supplying several forts and quarters, this road protected the capital, acting as a safety belt in its northern sector, just as the Tagus fortifications protected the south.
Documents from 1902 to 1920 attest to the possibility of civilian use of this road through the annual payment to the Army of a “fat chicken”, giving the privilege to anyone who could dispense with such a well-fed chicken, the use of this road paved with the innovative Macadame (Mc Adam ). And so, at a time when cars were still far away, many dreamers had already traveled on this road, whether in a buggy, coach, horseback or even in a theatrical caravan ...
Original Route:
Caxias (Fort D. Luis I) - Cheese - Valley - Carnaxide - Queluz - Alfragide - Maia - Benfica - Pontinha - Sacavém (Forte do Monte Sintra)
1st Relevance: (1910. transition Monarchy - Republic)
2nd Relevance: (1914 - 1918. 1st World War)
3rd Relevance: (1939 - 1945. 2nd World War)
Exclusive Military Detachment:
(Progressively between 1961 and 1974. Colonial Wars)
Learn more at nirvana.pt/tour