The state funeral for the first couple of Poland took place in Krakow on Sunday ending a week of national mourning since the fatal plane crash in Smolensk, Russia.
The ceremony began with a procession from Balice Airport to St. Mary’s Basilica, Krakow’s famous mediaeval church in the city’s Main Market Square. Crowds lined the procession route to pay their last respects, throwing flowers and waving the red and white Polish flag.
At 2.00 p.m. local time, with sirens ringing and church bells tolling, so began the couple’s last Mass at St. Mary’s Basilica.
Meanwhile, outside the church thousands of people gathered to watch the ceremony on giant TV screens. The requiem Mass in the gothic Basilica of Saint Mary was performed by an emissary of Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Angelo Sodano.
The caskets of Lech Kaczynski and the first lady Maria Kaczynski were then transported to Wawel Cathedral for burial, the final resting place traditionally reserved for the nation’s heroes, including poets and kings. They were buried in a royal crypt of Wawel next to the grave of Poland’s revered independence leader, Jozef Pilsudski.
The ceremony began with a procession from Balice Airport to St. Mary’s Basilica, Krakow’s famous mediaeval church in the city’s Main Market Square. Crowds lined the procession route to pay their last respects, throwing flowers and waving the red and white Polish flag.
At 2.00 p.m. local time, with sirens ringing and church bells tolling, so began the couple’s last Mass at St. Mary’s Basilica.
Meanwhile, outside the church thousands of people gathered to watch the ceremony on giant TV screens. The requiem Mass in the gothic Basilica of Saint Mary was performed by an emissary of Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Angelo Sodano.
The caskets of Lech Kaczynski and the first lady Maria Kaczynski were then transported to Wawel Cathedral for burial, the final resting place traditionally reserved for the nation’s heroes, including poets and kings. They were buried in a royal crypt of Wawel next to the grave of Poland’s revered independence leader, Jozef Pilsudski.
