At noon today thousands of people gathered at the cathedral of Santiago in the Old Town district of Bilbao to say their last farewell to Iñaki Azkuna, may of the city from 1999 until his death a few days ago.

The funeral ceremony was officiated by the Bishop of Bilbao, Mario Iceta, who spoke about the political and human sides of the man who was voted "best mayor in the world”. Well-known personalities attending the funeral included Basque Premier Iñigo Urkullu and his wife Lucía Arieta-Araunabeña; Crown Prince Felipe and his wife Princess Letizia; Andoni Ortuzar, head of the General Governing Council of the Basque National Party (EAJ-PNV); Pilar García de Salazar, the secretary of the General Governing Council; Itxaso Atutxa, Chair of the party’s Governing Council for Bizkaia; Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, Deputy Prime Minister of Spain; José Luis Bilbao, Head of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia; Ibon Areso, acting Mayor of Bilbao, accompanied by the entire municipal government; former Basque premiers Carlos Garaikoetxea, José Andonio Ardanza, Juan José Ibarretxe and Patxi López; Bakartxo Tejería, Speaker of the Basque Parliament; Ana Madariaga, Chair of the General Assembly of Bizkaia; Carlos Urquijo, Spanish Government delegate in the Basque Country; Iñaki Goirizelaia, rector of the University of the Basque Country; Mario Fernández, Chair of Kutxabank; Xabier Sagredo, Chair of the BBK savings bank; Ignacio Sánchez Galán, Chair of electric utility Iberdrola; Francisco González, Chair of the BBVA bank; and Josu Urrutia, President of Athletic Club Bilbao FC. Numerous Basque Government ministers, Bizkaia provincial councillors and Basque National Party officials at provincial and Basque Country level were also present.

Nine giant TV screens were set up for the occasion: seven inside the cathedral to enable all those present to follow the ceremony, one over the entrance and another in the nearby Plaza Nueva square to cater for all the thousands of citizens who turned up to say goodbye to Mayor Azkuna. RIP.