oulouse, March 1990. The exhibition is almost over. A visitor, overwhelmed, phones one of her friends in Lourdes. "You must come to Toulouse and see this exceptional exhibition. It closes on Sunday." The following Sunday, therefore, the friend in question, Laure Decroix, made the 300 mile round trip from Lourdes to Toulouse especially to see the exhibition. The following week she took the initiative of phoning us. "Your exhibition must come to Lourdes," she said. "If you wish, I'm willing to help you, and I can put you into contact with the Town Hall and the Sanctuaries".

ix months later, the exhibition opened in the famous castle which dominates the town. The project had immediately received very warm support from the mayor, Philippe Douste-Blazy, the future Minister of Culture, and was also backed, amicably and actively by Jean-Pierre Auguet, Deputy Mayor for Culture, and Jean-Luc Moudeng, The mayor's personal private secretary.

he exhibition also profited from the partnership of the sanctuaries, the Rector at the time being Father Bordes. And so it was that Tadeus Wrona, the Mayor of Czestochowa, who visited the exhibition during a visit to Lourdes, the following year requested that it come to the Grand Sanctuary of Mary in Poland.