SSHUW Bell Tower Loënga
Nowadays a small village that with its around 60 inhabitants is one of the smallest villages in Fryslân, It is just barely swallowed up by Sneek. But once Loënga could boast a vast village area, which stretched across the Zwette where there is now a residential area. In 1335 there was a church in Loënga, dedicated to St. Nicholas. Due to the poor condition of the building, this church was demolished in 1745. The church disappeared, but the belfry, the scaffolding in which the bells hang, still stands in the churchyard. Ringing the bell allowed people to reach each other when an important event took place, but the bell was also rung three times daily to tell the time.
During World War II, the Germans removed the bell dating from 1670 from the belfry. Loënga therefore received a new bell in 1950. This bell was cast in Heiligerlee and provided with a frieze poem. Both the bell house and the churchyard are now a national monument. The bell is now rung every day, except Sundays, at noon and at 4 pm.
The translation of this Frisian poem reads as follows:
My house is in Loënga
My sound is heard from Sneek to Goënga
I ring here with my hum
The Frisian land full of honor and glory
I call for work,
I call for rest
And keep the faith in God