Enclosures under construction

An aerial view of the Paranal summit with the large observatory platform on which the many components of VLT are now being installed. The four enclosures, three of which have been closed, are seen, together with the long, subterranean interferometric tunnel and the concrete supports for the smaller, moveable telescopes of the VLT Interferometric Array. The VLT control building, from where the observations with the four large telescopes will be made, is placed on a smaller and slightly lower platform in the foreground. (Photo obtained on December 16, 1997).