Exhibition "Before the museum was built"

The exhibition was open to the public from July 2 to November 30, 2008.
 
The exhibition was officially opened on the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lichen, in the Chapel of the Priests located in the lower basilica. The exhibition foreshadowed the launch of the museum proper on the second and third floors of the temple. The adaptation work of the rooms intended for the museum exhibition, was still in progress hence the title of the exhibition: Before there is a museum....

The room shows the history of the collections collected for more than 80 years by the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, with a special focus on the memorabilia of the museum's creator, Fr. Joseph Jarzębowski, MIC.
W dniu otwarcia zaprezentowano trzy egzemplarze ponad 400-letnich wydań Pisma Świętego: Biblię Leopolity (1577),  Biblię Brzeską (1563) i Biblię Jakuba Wujka (1599) 

Other valuable exhibits were also shown, including:
- Romuald Traugutt's personal items - his glasses, diary and prayer book,
- Memorabilia of General Jozef Haller - uniform and portrait,
- An altar made of canned goods, a jar of earth, and a cone from the Katyn forest,