The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is a multinational organization, founded in 1962, with 10 European member states (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom), which operates two major observatories in Chile, La Silla Observatory and Paranal Observatory, the latter the home of the Very Large Telescope. ESO's headquarters are in Garching, near Munich, Germany. ESO also has a major role in the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) project and is carrying out a concept study for the OverWhelmingly Large Telescope.