Lech Kaczynski was buried in the Polish Pantheon / World leaders were absent from the funeral

Former Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife, Maria, who died in the airplane crash last Saturday at Smolensk, were buried today at the Wawel Castle in Kracow, where the most important people in Poland’s history rest. At the ceremony, 80 foreign delegations were expected but most political leaders like Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel or Jose Manuel Barroso cancelled their visit to Poland due to the difficulties caused by the Icelandic ash cloud.

Among the leaders missing are King Juan Carlos of Spain, Spanish PM Jose Luis Zapatero, Prince Phillip of Great Britain and Canadian PM Stephen Harper. However, there were a few world leaders who attended the ceremony like Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, Ukranian President Viktor Yanukovici and other European leaders and delegations.

Romania was represented by President Traian Basescu. Basescu left on Saturday afternoon to Poland. He took a helicopter to West Romania and then he continued his trip by car to Poland.

Polish authorities even considered to postpone the funeral, but the family of the former President rejected the idea.