Status of VIRGO

Abstract

In this paper, we present the status of the VIRGO interferometer, the French-Italian gravitational wave detector. During the last two years the construction of the apparatus has been completed. At the same time, the commissioning of the detector central part, the VIRGO central interferometer, has been used to test all the technical solutions and in particular the most original part: the seismic isolation system. In the next few months the commissioning of the whole detector will start with the alignment and the locking of one of the two 3 km long Fabry-Perot cavities.