Havana  - Cuba has declared the birthplace of brothers Fidel and Raul Castro a "national monument," state media reported.

The rural home of the Castros near the village of Biran in Holguin province in south-eastern Cuba was given the distinction because of its "extraordinary historical value," news reports said Tuesday.

Biran was the "cradle of Fidel and Raul Castro, the historic leaders of the Cuban Revolution," state media said. "Biran is a symbolic place in our contemporary history," the National Monument Committee said.

The Castros' father, Angel, built up the Finca Manacas property after moving to Cuba from Spain and made a fortune with his sugar-cane plantation. He and his wife, Lina Ruiz, are buried on the homestead's sprawling property.

Fidel Castro was born there on August 13, 1926, five years before his brother Raul but spent only his early childhood on the homestead.

The Castros have ruled the Antilles' largest island since overthrowing dictator Fulgenico Batista in 1959. The farm was among the first to be expropriated after the revolution.

Twenty-six hectares of the homestead are to be formally declared a national monument Thursday. Eleven buildings sit on the site. They are in traditional Cuban wooden architecture and include a rebuilt version of the house where the Castro brothers were born, which burned in the 1950s. (dpa)