Che Guevara Mausoleum

Mausoleum Holding The Remains Of Ernesto Che Guevara And Twenty Nine Comrades, Returned From Bolivia In 1997, With A Memorial Museum And An Eternal Flame · Santa Clara, Villa Clara

Santa Clara is where the Cuban revolution was decided. In December 1958 a column under Che Guevara derailed an armoured troop train here and took the city, and Batista left the country within days. Thirty years later the city built a memorial complex on its western edge: an enormous bronze Che striding forward on a plinth, a museum of his life below it, and behind that a mausoleum holding his remains and those of twenty-nine comrades, brought back from the Bolivian grave where they were found in 1997. Fidel Castro lit the eternal flame. It is a national shrine and is treated as one - bags and cameras in the cloakroom, silence in the chamber, no photographs. Across town the derailed carriages of the armoured train still lie where Che's men put them, which is the more interesting half. Santa Clara itself is a university city rather than a shrine town, and is livelier than the memorial suggests.

Plaza de la Revolucion, Santa Clara, Villa Clara, Santa Clara, Villa Clara, Cuba

Open most days with a weekly closing day, keeping daytime hours; the mausoleum chamber and the museum have their own hours and may close separately. BAGS AND CAMERAS MUST BE LEFT IN THE CLOAKROOM and photography inside the mausoleum is prohibited. Anniversaries in June and October bring official ceremonies and crowds. Power cuts affect the museum lighting.

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