Mourners line up to pay homage during a two-day public viewing of Armani’s coffin at the company’s headquarters in Milan

Thousands of mourners paid homage on Saturday to Italian fashion legend Giorgio Armani, who died this week aged 91, as his coffin was put on public display in Milan.

Crowds filed past the wooden closed casket in a darkened room lit by paper candles and an image of the designer on a big screen.

Armani, the head of a multibillion-dollar luxury fashion empire, died on Thursday after months of fragile health and will be laid to rest at a private funeral on Monday in Milan.

Hundreds of people queued up for the start of the two-day public viewing at the Armani/Teatro, the company’s minimalist but luxurious headquarters in Milan.