# De Handel

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Canonical page: https://mytuur.com/en/city/eindhoven/spot/de-handel/

Content updated: 2026-06-22

De Handel is a sculpture in Eindhoven, positioned on the southern side of the Vestdijktunnel. You see Mercury, the Roman god of commerce, wearing a winged helmet and holding his snake-wrapped caduceus. The figure forms part of Nijverheid van Eindhoven, a public-art series representing the city’s industrial and economic life. Other figures nearby represent traffic and young, flourishing Eindhoven, while sound, tobacco, and textiles appear on the tunnel’s northern side.

Joop Hekman created the original sandstone series between 1950 and 1953, as Dutch railway art for Eindhoven’s elevated railway project. The Dutch Railways gave the works to the city when the line between Eindhoven and Woensel opened. Acid rain and other environmental damage later affected the sandstone, so the originals moved to the Dutch Railway Museum in Utrecht for preservation. Toon Grassens created this outdoor replica in the late 1990s, using polyester reinforced with fiberglass and a stainless-steel structure. Alongside the tunnel, Mercury connects postwar optimism with Eindhoven’s trade, industry, and railway landscape.

- City: [Eindhoven](https://mytuur.com/en/city/eindhoven/)

## Photos

- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_DeHandel_68cbb6dfe7953b133712e5e4_0.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:De_Bijenkorf_Eindhoven_detail_zijgevel.JPG)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_DeHandel_68cbb6dfe7953b133712e5e4_1.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:De_Bijenkorf_Eindhoven_ingang.JPG)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_DeHandel_68cbb6dfe7953b133712e5e4_2.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cafe_in_De_Bijenkorf_Eindhoven.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_DeHandel_68cbb6dfe7953b133712e5e4_3.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:De_Bijenkorf_Eindhoven_from_the_East.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_DeHandel_68cbb6dfe7953b133712e5e4_4.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Detail_of_the_east_facade_De_Bijenkorf_Eindhoven.jpg)

Spots like this one are the stops myTuur strings into tours through Eindhoven. 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.