# Tegen alle stromen in

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Canonical page: https://mytuur.com/en/city/amsterdam/spot/tegen-alle-stromen-in/

Content updated: 2026-06-22

Tegen alle stromen in is a bronze sculpture in Amsterdam by Rini Hurkmans, commemorating crime journalist Peter R. de Vries. Two hands and forearms touch in gestures of support, help, invitation, and protection. Green-blue surfaces alter the view as you circle them, since the form has no fixed front or back. It rests directly on the ground without a pedestal.

The idea followed de Vries’s death, while his family wanted values and legacy rather than a portrait. Five artists submitted separate designs for the memorial. A committee including his family, city officials, and area designers selected Hurkmans’s concept. Michelangelo’s Pietà shaped the position of the arms. An island in a busy square places it among meeting pedestrians, with the television studio where de Vries appeared also visible. Its outer surfaces carry a passage from his farewell letter to his children. The passage appears in Amsterdam’s forty most spoken languages and in braille. Specially sized braille lets visitors discover those words by touch.

- City: [Amsterdam](https://mytuur.com/en/city/amsterdam/)

## Photos

- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_Tegenallestromenin_6832defff44f54dc869064ab_0.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestand:2024_Tegen_alle_stromen_in-Leidseplein,_Asd_\(B\).jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_Tegenallestromenin_6832defff44f54dc869064ab_1.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestand:2024_Tegen_alle_stromen_in-Leidseplein,_Asd_\(A\).jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_Tegenallestromenin_6832defff44f54dc869064ab_2.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestand:Michelangelo's_Pietà,_St_Peter's_Basilica_\(1498–99\).jpg)

Spots like this one are the stops myTuur strings into tours through Amsterdam. In the app, each story begins where you stand: walk up to a spot and it starts, read it on screen or listen as you go, then follow the route to the next one.

## What is myTuur?

myTuur is a free city-guide app. Its tours are built from spots, and each spot carries a story that starts when you get there, to read or to listen to as you like.