Kraków's Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz announced on 13 April that the Kaczyński presidential couple would be buried in the cathedral within the Wawel royal castle in the city next Sunday.
He said it was a government decision and did not specify whether it had been taken at the family's request.
Following the announcement, hundreds of people gathered to protest in the centre of the former Polish medieval capital. Banners reading 'Not Kraków, not Wawel!' and 'Are you sure he is the equal of kings?' were raised.
Kaczyński and his wife will rest close to the grave of Józef Piłsudski, the architect of Polish independence. Marshal Piłsudski helped Poland regain its independence in 1918 and dominated national politics throughout the 1920s and 30s.
The Wawel crypt also contains the bodies of Polish royalty, legendary military commander Tadeusz Kosciuszko, who fought in the US war of independence, Poland's wartime leader Wladysław Sikorski and national poet Adam Mickiewicz.
Some poles say that Kaczyński tried to realise Piłsudski's political testament, while Sikorski died in the same way, in a plane crash over Gibraltar in 1943.
Intellectuals divided
The protests marked the first cracks in national unity since the tragic plane crash on 10 April. Media across the world showed extensive footage of the huge crowds of mourners who accompanied the funeral train of Kaczyński's coffin and later, that of his wife (EurActiv Poland 13/04/10). For four days, people have been queuing in bad weather for hours to pay a final tribute in front of the coffins in Warsaw's presidential palace.
The Polish press reports that politicians and intellectuals are also divided on the Wawel issue. In a front-page editorial, the daily Gazeta Wyborcza called the decision "hasty and emotional". But in the online edition of the same newspaper, its deputy chief editor Jarosław Kurski called for an end to discussion on the burial place.
"President Lech Kaczyński was modest and a good man, but there is no reason for him to lie in Wawel among the kings of Poland and Marshal Józef Piłsudski," wrote Andrzej Wajda, the famous director of the movie Katyn, which told the story of the massacre of Poles by Soviet police.
Grzegorz Kosmała, a Warsaw public relations executive, said: "I'm really sorry for President Kaczyński's death, but Wawel is not the place for him. When he was in office, President Kaczyński appeared to act on behalf of the opposition party led by his twin brother. He divided Poles."
"If President Kaczynski had died of natural causes he would never have been buried in Wawel," Jerzy Meysztowicz, a politician from Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centrist Civic Platform (PO), told Reuters.
But Kaczyński's political family, the Law and Justice party (PiS), led by his twin brother Jarosław, wants to benefit from the president's restored reputation after his death. A PiS Senator, Stanisław Kogut, even proposed that Kaczyński and his wife's coffins should travel from Warsaw to Kraków by train, as was the case for Piłsudski in 1935.
Top officials to assist the funerals
Numerous heads of state and government, including US President Barack Obama, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, are due to attend the funeral on Sunday.
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek will also attend the ceremony.
Special agents are already checking nearby buildings in the centre of Kraków, the Polish press reports.
Elections on 20 June
Poland's ruling centrist Civic Platform (PO) announced on 14 April that presidential elections were likely to be held on 20 June. The date was not confirmed, however, as the country is still in mourning.
Bronisław Komorowski, who became acting president following Kaczynski's death, is also the Civic Platform’s candidate. It is still unclear who will be his opponent in the election.
The right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS), led by Kaczyński's twin brother Jarosław, and the main leftist opposition party SLD, whose presidential candidate also died in the crash, are now under pressure to name new candidates to take on Komorowski.
According to many, if Jarosław Kaczyński decides to run, chances are high that the tragic loss of his twin brother would propel him to the presidency. But others say that this "public sympathy bonus" may not last long.
The tabloid Fakt suggests that both Kaczyński brothers were considering another candidate only a few weeks ago – Professor Zyta Gilowska, a former deputy prime minister and finance minister in the PiS cabinet.
Together with Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Gilowska was one of the co-founders of the ruling Civic Platform (PO) a few years ago and could be an appropriate rival for Komorowski. She could obtain votes from both parties and women from other political groups, observers say.
