ALBA history started in the first nineties, when a group of illuminated scientistsproposed to build a synchrotron light source in Spain, as the first national large scientific infrastructure. It was meant to serve and help the development of the Synchrotron Light User Community, to build up a group with expertise in accelerator physics, to develop an industrial environment with capacities of participation in similar facilities all around the world.
The green light was obtained in 2003, and the cornerstone of the first 3rd generation light source in the South-East of Europe was placed in 2006 in Cerdanyola del Valles, near UAB.
Today, since the first official user in May 2012, the seven day-one beamlines have served more than two thousand users, two Phase II beamlines are in construction, and the Phase III beamlines are defined. The talk will describe, after a short historic introduction, the present status of the infrastructure and the outlook for the future.