Church of Our Lady on the Sand

The Church of Our Lady on the Sand stands on Piasek Island on the Oder in Wrocław and today serves as a parish church.

Romanesque beginnings

The first church on this site was founded in the first half of the 12th century by the palatine Piotr Włost, his wife Duchess Maria and their son Świętosław; construction was completed before 1148. Around 1150 regular canons were brought to the church. The Romanesque church was about 35 metres long on the outside, built of granite, with a short transept and an elongated chancel.

Gothic rebuilding

Between 1334 and 1375 a new Gothic three-nave hall church was built on the site of the Romanesque building, designed by master builder Pieszko. The church was consecrated in 1369 by Bishop Przecław. The vaults were completed between 1386 and 1395, and the south tower in 1430; the north tower was left unfinished. The building is 78 metres long, 25 metres wide and 23.8 metres high inside, with star vaults spanning the main nave and three-part vaults over the side aisles. The style is described as reductive Gothic: compact and massive, built of brick, with two towers on the west side.

Fires and wartime destruction

On 28-30 January 1730 the Baroque helm of the tower burned down, and a provisional tent roof was put up in its place, a form that has survived to this day. Further roof damage and repairs were recorded in 1763 and in May 1791. The greatest destruction came with the siege of Wrocław at the end of the Second World War, and the church and monastery suffered their heaviest losses at Easter 1945, on 1 and 2 April.

Rebuilding and interior

The church was rebuilt between 1946 and 1948 and again between 1961 and 1963 under the direction of Witold Rawski and Edmund Małachowicz, restoring its Gothic form and giving it a steeper roof than the one before the 1730 fire. Inside, a late Gothic stone font from 1464-1472 has survived, along with wooden altars moved here from destroyed Silesian churches, a 17th-century Baroque image of Our Lady of Victory brought after the war from Mariampol and crowned in 1989, modern stained-glass windows by Teresa Maria Reklewska, and a Romanesque tympanum above the entrance to the sacristy. In the lower chapel a nativity scene is on display all year round.

Practical information

• Address: św. Jadwigi 1, Wrocław, Old Town district, Piasek Island.
• This is an active parish church; the neighbouring former monastery building, rebuilt between 1956 and 1959, today houses departments of the University of Wrocław.
• Opening hours for visitors are not given in the available materials; it is worth checking the parish website before a visit.
• The church stands next to Tumski Bridge and the Archcathedral of St John the Baptist, together forming a religious complex on the Oder islands, also close to the Wrocław Market Hall.