WARSAW:- Hundreds of mourners including leading Polish artists and intellectuals gathered in a church in the heart of Warsaw’s historic centre Tuesday to pay their last respects to Andrzej Wajda, the Oscar-awarded legendary Polish filmmaker who died last week aged 90. Father Andrzej Luter, the Catholic priest leading the funeral mass, called the film director a “man of talent, a man of wisdom and a man of Poland”. The phrase referenced Wajda’s celebrated 1980 “Man of Iron” film, focused on the rise of Poland’s anti-communist Solidarity trade union. Wajda left behind an opus of acclaimed films inspired by his country’s turbulent history.

A large black-and-white photograph portrait of Wajda was perched on an easel in front of the altar where his steel urn stood. While top Polish artists and thinkers attended the funeral mass, ordinary residents also turned up to bid their final farewells.