Polish and foreign leaders attended a funeral mass today for President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria, but a volcanic ash cloud over Europe prevented some overseas guests from joining them.
The leaders of Poland and Russia attending the state funeral of Polish President Lech Kaczynski said this evening his death in a plane crash in Russia must serve as a catalyst for reconciliation between the two Slavic nations.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev braved the closure of Europe's air space caused by a volcanic ash cloud to attend the funeral in Krakow - a gesture of solidarity that reinforced Polish hopes for improved ties with their communist-era master.
After a solemn mass, the coffins of Kaczynski and his wife Maria, draped in the red-and-white national flag, were borne by a gun-carriage through winding streets to their final resting place in Wawel cathedral high above Poland's ancient capital.
Tens of thousands of Poles chanted "Lech Kaczynski, we thank you" and waved flags and banners of the 1980s anti-communist Solidarity movement which the combative nationalist and devout Roman Catholic once helped to build.
Kaczynski, his wife and 94 other, mostly senior Polish political and military officials died when their plane crashed in thick fog near Smolensk in western Russia on April 10th.
They had been heading to the Katyn forest to mark the 70th anniversary of the massacre of 22,000 Polish officers and intellectuals by Soviet secret police. For decades until 1990, Moscow denied responsibilty for their deaths, blaming the Nazis.
"President Lech Kaczynski's testament must be fulfilled through rapprochement and reconciliation (with Russia)," acting President Bronislaw Komorowski told mourners in Krakow's mediaeval St Mary's Basilica.
"Because of the Smolensk tragedy the whole world has learnt about Katyn," said Mr Komorowski. Speaking to Polish television shortly before boarding his plane back to Moscow, Medvedev said: "In views of these heavy losses I believe we can make serious efforts to draw our nations closer together, to develop economic relations and find solutions to the most difficult problems, including Katyn."
Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, conducting the funeral mass beneath Europe's largest carved Gothic altar, thanked "our Russian brothers" for their help and support since the crash.
"(This) gives us hope for reconciliation between our two great nations," said Cardinal Dziwisz, former personal secretary of the late Polish pope, John Paul II.
US president Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy were among those forced by the ash cloud to abandon plans to attend Kaczynski's funeral.
Flight restrictions means that President Mary McAleese was unable to attend the ceremony. A memorial service for those killed was held in Dublin today attended several hundred members of Ireland’s Polish community attended.
In Warsaw, more than 180,000 people queued day and night to view the coffins at the presidential palace - on public display since Tuesday - and then at the city's cathedral.
In the crypt of Wawel cathedral the Kaczynskis will lie beside Polish kings, poets and national heroes such as Marshal Jozef Pilsudski, architect of modern Poland's independence.
Reuters