We describe the boxy bulge, long stellar bar and elliptical ring of the Galaxy. Thismodel has largely evolved from NIR survey work by many teams and differs from other modelswith a monolithic ellipsoidal bulge. We maintain that the structure of the inner Galaxy can onlybe properly studied by adequately sampling the entire Galactic plane for, and that the bulge is best studied at least from the plane. We briefly report a slight radially outwardly increasing metallicity gradient along the bar and reaffirm de Vaucouleurs & Pence's(1978) suggestion that the Galaxy is probably of morphological type SAB(rs)bc II.
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