Alejandro Ferras has spent nearly four decades creating a shrine that pays tribute to fighters who took part in a 1953 attack that marked the start of the Cuban revolution.

Now 93, he built his private museum, called the Moncada Seat of Honour, along Marques Gonzalez Street in Havana, where the ruins of a collapsed building once stood. It contains photos, letters and other memorabilia related to the July 26 attack on the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba. And it will eventually contain Ferras’ ashes, too.

Ferras wants to be buried in a shady corner at the back of the museum.

“My destiny is here. My life is enshrined here,” he said.

Ferras was one of about 135 fighters who joined Fidel Castro in the attack. Twenty-five fighters staged a second intrusion in the town of Bayamo. Not many of the former rebels are still alive.

“Fourteen of us are left,” Ferras said.

He pointed to a gallery of photos of other former attackers. “This one died two months ago,” he said.

Ferras figures he won’t be the last insurgent standing. He doubts it will be Fidel Castro, either. Whoever it is, he wants the final fighter to be honoured at the museum while the ex-rebel is still alive.