The Very Large Telescope Interferometer on Cerro Paranal, about 80km south of the city of Antofagasta in Northern Chile, is at the forefront of optical/infrared interferometric facilities. It comprises a total of eight telescopes, four fixed 8.2m Unit Telescopes (UTs) and four movable 1.8m Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs), which can be located on 30 stations.

First fringes with siderostats and the test instrument VINCI were achieved in 2001, followed by a period of shared risk science. Regular science observations have started in 2004 and run for more than 160 nights each year. Interferometric data are taken with the two-telescope mid-infrared instrument MIDI and the three-telescope near-infrared instrument AMBER, both operating on the ATs and UTs. The VLTI has produced more than 50 refereed astrophysical publications to date.

I will describe the current VLTI infrastructure, the near- and mid-term prospects, and then focus on the science highlights achieved with the VLTI.