KrakowInformer.com

	President's coffin was placed in a crypt in Wawel (PAP)

Lech Kaczynski's body leaving St Mary's PAP)

Thousands of Poles watched the ceremony live

Alabaster sarcophagus in Wawel crypt

Lech and Maria Kaczynski

A funeral mass at Cracow St. Mary's Basilica was the high point of funeral ceremonies for the late President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria held in Cracow Sunday. It was followed by a funeral procession to the Wawel Cathedral where the coffins with the bodies of the presidential couple were placed in a sarcophagus. It was built near the crypt with the grave of Poland's pre-war leader Jozef Pilsudski.

The ceremonies were attended by Poland's top authorities and 18 foreign delegations as well as many ambassadors accredited in Poland. Many more foreign delegations had to give up their planned attendance because of travelling problems created by volcanic eruption in Iceland and the resulting ash cloud threatening air travel.

The mass began at Cracow St. Mary's Basilica at 2 p.m. and was celebrated by Metropolitan of Cracow Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz. A homily for the mass that was to be read out by the dean of the College of Cardinals Cardinal Angelo Sodano was delivered by Papal Nuncio in Poland Archbishop Jozef Kowalczyk.

Present were the family of Lech and Maria Kaczynski, acting President and Sejm Speaker Bronislaw Komorowski, Prime Minister Donald Tusk and ministers of his cabinet, government officials as well as foreign delegations: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, German President Horst Koehler, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, Czech President Vaclav Klaus, President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite, President of Latvia Valdis Zatlers and President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek, among others.Approximately 150 thousand people gathered in and around the main square in the center of Cracow to pay their respects to the late president and his wife. They watched the mass and other parts of the ceremonies on giant tv screens located in several points of the city.

Several hundred people formed the funeral procession that escorted the two coffins, placed on gun-carriages, from the St. Mary's Basilica to the Wawel Cathedral. A short liturgical farewell ceremony was held there, attended by family members, Poland's authorities and foreign delegations, including Georgian president Mikeil Saakashvili who arrived in Cracow late and missed the funeral mass.

The coffins were placed in the sarcophagus in the presence of family members only. A 21-gun salute was fired. (PAP)