Sand Islet took its name after the church from this place which patroness was Saint Mary on the Sand. The Latin name Sancta Maria in Arena is connected with a Roman church built on the site of an earlier circus. In the Middle Ages the Polish version of the name came into use. In 1149 a monastery of Augustinians, was established here. Equipped by its generous founders, the monastery was one of the wealthiest in Wrocław. The original temple was erected here before 1148 on the initiative of Maria Włostowicowa and her son Świętosław. The brick Gothic church started to be constructed in 1334 under the supervision of Master Builder Peschel.  From Church of Our Lady on the Sand