Memorial.
At the bottom of the complex, in
a modest and solemn setting, where flowers are changed
daily, lie the remains of Che Guevara and his comrades who
fell in Bolivia, within niches set within a stone vault. The
memorial, the final resting place of Commander Ernesto Che
Guevara and his comrades, was unveiled on October 17, 1997.
On that date, a funeral ceremony was held for the
"Reinforcement Detachment," as Fidel Castro called the
guerrilla fighters. Because the remains of only six
guerrillas were found at the time, they were buried with Che.
With the additions made in later years, the number of
guerrillas buried in the niches increased to 29.
Here, an eternal flame burns in memory of the guerrillas,
lit by Fidel Castro, and scenes featuring American
guerrillas are recreated in a replica of a South American
forest.
Out of respect for the dead, taking photos is strictly
prohibited in this section.
Museum.
The museum and the memorial are on
the same floor, the ground floor. After visiting the museum,
you can view the memorial, and the mausoleum visit
concludes. As with the memorial, taking photos is prohibited
here.
The museum, which displays photographs, objects, and
documents from various stages of Che's life, reveals hero's
childhood, adolescence, and youth, as well as his
relationships with his family and his environment.
His asthma inhaler, his books he read in school, medical
certifacates, the jacket he wore in Santa Clara, his
guerrilla uniform, his rifle M2 carbine, field binoculars,
water bottle, some books he read, some photos depicting the
Hero smoking cigars and playing golf, and his writings are
displayed chronologically. These objects provide a better
understanding of Che's involvement with the Cuban movement
while he was in Mexico, his later participation in the July
26th movement, his transformation from the passenger in the
Granma yacht to a guerrilla in the Sierra Maestra, his
struggle alongside Camilo Cienfuegos in the western
infiltration campaign, and the 1958 victory at Santa Clara.
The museum's collection comprises 1,146 items. Some pieces
of the collection is original, including documents,
photographs, photo negatives, casettes containing hundreds
of hours of recordings, and books. The donation to the
museum in 2015 of the personal archives of Cuban researchers
Adys Cupull and Froilán González, who have dedicated their
lives to investigating the life of Che Guevara and the
guerrillas who accompanied him in Bolivia, among other
studies, significantly contributed to the collection's
expansion. The museum's collection is constantly expanding
thanks to donations from all over the world.
Efforts are underway to establish a Documentation Center,
including a reading room, so visitors can access invaluable
information resources about the Hero.
In 12 years, from 1997 to 2009, more than 3 million people
from over 100 countries, including Cuba, visited the
memorial.
