After a week of global tributes and mourning, it was a subdued end to Fidel Castro's epic journey in death across Cuba to Santiago's Santa Ifigenia cemetery.
The interment was a private ceremony attended only by family and Castro's closest allies.
Cubans, who had lined the streets chanting "I am Fidel" were then briefly allowed inside the cemetery to see the tomb, its stone simply marked with a metal nameplate saying "Fidel".
With a dozen uniformed soldiers standing guard, the tomb stands to the side of a memorial to the rebel soldiers killed in an attack on Santiago's Moncada barracks.
It was a raid led by Castro when he launched the Cuban revolution six decades ago.
In the capital, Havana, the military fired a 21-gun salute to mark the arrival of the ashes at the final resting place.
During a small mass at a Santiago church, parishioners prayed for the man who ruled their country for almost 50 years before stepping down a decade ago.
Father Luis del Castillo told the congregation Castro would rest alongside fellow independence heroes.
"Today we have to think that we cannot trust a better and better world to some. Leaders are going through time. The remains of Fidel will accompany the remains of Jose Marti, Carlos Manuel, Antonio Maceo - of the many who came before him who also fought for this country."
Parishioner Josefa Duran says the Castro legacy will live on forever in the hearts of his supporters.
"Fidel is everything for me, my life, my soul, my heart, but he remains inside of me. He is my idol and I ask for a blessing on him for all days."
It was the final leg of a 900-kilometre funeral procession that started in Havana last Wednesday.
Fidel Castro's coffin had travelled the length of the country, drawing huge crowds.
Retired teacher Marta Verdecia says she remembers life before the revolution and how it changed the country under the leadership of Castro.
"I was a young girl at the triumph of the revolution and everything we had at that time completely changed in this country."
The old and the young - like Cuban student Melisa Tarradell - have paid their respects to a controversial figure.
"Fidel has been the best for all the students, for all the people of Cuba. He has been the father, he has been everything. And for us, it is a very special moment, to share this moment with the people of Cuba and the world."
While he's been reviled by some - particularly on the US mainland only 500 kilometres away - Fidel Castro will be forever remembered among these adoring followers.
But there'll be no immortalisation with grand edifices in his homeland: in keeping with his wishes, Castro's image won't be prominently displayed on statues and in public places.
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