The Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) is the4-metre wide-field survey telescope at ESO's Paranal Observatory, equipped withthe world's largest near-infrared imaging camera (VISTA IR Camera, VIRCAM),with 1.65 degree diameter field of view, and 67 Mpixels giving 0.6 squaredegrees active pixel area, operating at wavelengths 0.8 - 2.3 microns. Weprovide a short history of the project, and an overview of the technicaldetails of the full system including the optical design, mirrors, telescopestructure, IR camera, active optics, enclosure and software. The systemincludes several innovative design features such as the f/1 primary mirror, thedichroic cold-baffle camera design and the sophisticated wavefront sensingsystem delivering closed-loop 5-axis alignment of the secondary mirror. Weconclude with a summary of the delivered performance, and a short overview ofthe six ESO public surveys in progress on VISTA.
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