Poland holds state funeral for President Lech Kaczynski

The state funeral of Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria has been held in Krakow, with thousands gathering in the city to pay respects.

A funeral Mass was held in St Mary's Basilica and a procession later took the coffins to be buried in a crypt of the historic Wawel Cathedral.

Many world leaders could not attend due to volcanic ash grounding flights.

Poland's first couple and 94 other people died eight days ago when their plane crashed as they flew to Russia.

21-gun salute

In remarks at the funeral Mass, Krakow's Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz said the international fellow feeling in the wake of the deaths had shown "many layers of good between the people and nations".

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev defied the air restrictions to fly to Krakow.

Archbishop Dziwisz said he was addressing Mr Medvedev personally in stating: "The sympathy and help we have received from Russian brothers has breathed new life into a hope for closer relations and reconciliation between our two Slavic nations."

The coffins were then taken in a gun-carriage procession through Krakow and on to the walled castle and cathedral at Wawel for a 21-gun salute and the burial.

Thousands lined the streets, waving flags, applauding and chanting: "Lech Kaczynski! We thank you!"

The Krakow ceremonies were for family, friends and international dignitaries but were shown on screens across the city.

Among those unable to attend the funeral are US President Barack Obama, the UK's Prince of Wales, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Those mourners on the streets of Krakow said it was right for the funeral to take place on Sunday, despite cancellations by so many world leaders.

One mourner, Bartek Kargol, told Associated Press: "I wouldn't move the funeral. This event is for our president."

Maria Kurowska, mayor of the town of Jaslo, told Agence France-Presse news agency that her town had paid for three coaches to bring mourners to Krakow.

"It's an exceptional moment. Poles have to be here," she said.

Earlier, the coffins had been driven through Warsaw on a route that took in key locations of Lech Kaczynski's life, such as city hall, where he served as the capital's mayor.

The coffins were then taken from Warsaw to Krakow on a military transport plane that flew below the volcanic ash cloud.

On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people had attended an open-air memorial service in the centre of Warsaw.

The couple's final resting place is in a sarcophagus in the royal crypt in Wawel cathedral, next to Poland's revered independence leader, Jozef Pilsudski.

The decision to entomb a leader seen as divisive by many during his lifetime in such a hallowed place has drawn some protests.

The Polish government airliner crashed in western Russia on 10 April.

Investigators believe pilot error caused the plane to hit tree-tops in heavy fog in the Smolensk region, where the Polish delegation had meant to attend a memorial for about 22,000 Poles massacred by Stalin's secret police at Katyn in World War II.

Key Polish political and military leaders were killed in the air crash, including the heads of all three branches of Poland's military.

BBC News