Church of Virgin Mary on Sand

Church of Virgin Mary on Sand

Let us begin with the sand. It is an island on Oder River but the name dates to a remote time and place. A Latin dedication of the church sounds Sancta Maria in Arena as the first Roman church dedicated to Virgin Mary was built on the area of former circus. In time the word arena started to be translated as sand. On the island the first Romanesque church and Canons Regular of the Lateran's convent were built in the first half of the 12th century - historians cannot agree whether it was in 1133 or 1148. It was a small church, 35m long where today's central part of the nave and the southern aisle are located. In the 13th century the first alteration works took place and the Romanesque shape of the church survived until 1334. Over the ages it was enlarged and redesigned a number of times, also after various fires. In 1945 the church and the convent were destroyed. Even though it was first thought to leave them ruined, they were rebuilt in stages in the years 1946-1948 and 1961-1963. The interior regained its original Gothic forms, the furnishings were brought from destroyed Silesian churches. The roof has maintained its shape from before 1730. The square plan convent adjoins the church. Originally it was Gothic, but it was redesigned and enlarged in Baroque style between 1709 and 1715. In 1632 the church was looted by Swedish troops. After the secularization the convent was used as a library from 1811. After being destroyed during World War II it was rebuilt by Marcin Bukowski between 1956 and 1959. Unfortunately, the Gothic wing was demolished to collect Gothic bricks. At present the former convent houses a branch of Library of Wroclaw University.