It has been reported that Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife were laid to rest Sunday in a crypt reserved for Polish monarchs and national heroes at Wawel Cathedral in Krakow.

The burial followed a funeral mass at St. Mary's Basilica on a day when Poles thronged streets and public squares, wept, waved flags, prayed the rosary and tossed flowers.

Pawel Staniszewski, a 22-year-old student who joined tens of thousands of mourners outside the funeral mass, told the Los Angeles Times, "To be here is a historical duty. I feel that we are taking part in a very historic moment and that we needed to come to tell our grandchildren about it."

It was also reported that flights grounded because of the plume of Icelandic volcanic ash covering a huge swath of Europe prevented many world leaders from attending the funeral for Kaczynski and his wife, Maria.

They died April 10 with 94 others in a Polish delegation, including dignitaries and military leaders, in a plane crash in western Russia. The delegation was heading to a ceremony to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Soviet execution of more than 20,000 Poles.

The BBC reported that Krakow Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz told mourners at the mass on Sunday that the response to the crash had shown "many layers of good between the people and nations" of Poland and Russia.

Dziwisz said he was speaking directly to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who defied the air restrictions to fly to Krakow, when he said, "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." (With Inputs from Agencies)