Globular Clusters - Guides to Galaxies Proceedings of the Joint ESO-FONDAP Workshop on Globular Clusters held in Concepción, Chile, 6-10 March 2006

The idea to hold a workshop on globular clusters in Concepcion emerged during 2005 out of a variety of circumstances. Four years had passed since the IAUSymposium 207 onExtragalactic Globular Clusters inPuc ́ on, atime span, which we thought to be long enough for justifying a new meeting with theintent toreviewthemostrecentdevelopments inthe'eld of extragalactic stars clusters. Originally intended to be a small-scale workshop, the response from the community was overwhelming so that only a full-scale international conferencewas abletocopewith thenumerousrequestsfortalksandposters. Finally, about 160 participants gathered in Concepci ́ on on March 6th, 2006. The venue was the university lecture hall located in the facultad de - manidadesyartesoftheUniversidaddeConcepci ́ on.Posterswereexposedin the lobby of the faculty building. The weather was as good as one can reas- ablyexpectfromalatesummerinConcepci ́ on.Althoughtheprogrammewas so tight that separate poster sessions other than those during co'ee breaks could not be accomodated, posters received a lot of attention. From the ?rst to the last talk, the atmosphere was inspiring and the conference could keep its tension for ?ve full days. This clearly shows that the attraction which globular clusters exercise on astrophysicists of quite di'erent ?avours, is as strong as ever.