In the early summer of '89 a very informal meeting on the bulge of our Galaxy was held in Leiden. During that meeting Michael Rich proposed to hold a more properly organised symposium on "Galactic Bulges" in a few years time. After some discussion a Scientific Organising Committee was founded and after some manoeuvring a chairman was chosen, a local organiser was assigned and two editors were given instructions. A good thing about the location of the meeting was that Ghent is a very beautiful city and had never before hosted an IAU symposium. It could be that this, plus the fact that he is a very keen amateur astronomer led H. M. the King of Belgium to offer his patronage to the meeting - an offer that we gratefully and - we hope - gracefully accepted. The meeting took place at a resort some 15 km outside Ghent. Most participants were housed on the premises - a very convenient situation. This feeling of togeth­ erness made up for the small shortcomings of the lecture room, which is normally used as a sports hall. The weather was fair, except on the day of the barbecue when pouring rain forced us to go inside.

Inhalt

Invited Reviews.- Review of the Galactic Bulge.- General Surveys of the Bulge in the Infrared.- Long-Period Variables and Carbon Stars in the Galactic Bulge.- OH/IR Stars as Tracers of Galactic populations.- Kinematics and Dynamics of OH/IR Stars.- Bulge K and M Giants.- The Globular Cluster and Horizontal Branch Content of the Bulge and Halo.- The Global Properties of Planetary Nebulae in the Galactic Bulge.- Stellar Population Synthesis.- Formation and Evolution of Stars in Galactic Bulges.- The Stellar Population of the Inner 200 parsecs.- Dynamics of the Galactic Bulge.- Kinematics of Extragalactic Bulges: Evidence that Some Bulges are Really Disks.- Photometric Properties of Extragalactic Bulges.- What is the Connection between Ellipticals and Bulges?.- Summary: Achievements and Open Questions.- Contributed Papers.- 3-D Gas Dynamics in Triaxial Systems.- Dynamics of the Galactic Bulge from Gas Motions.- The Bulge of the Milky Way and Cosmic Rays.- Rapid Gas Fueling in a Barred Potential by Self-Gravitational Instability.- Mgl Triplet Lines in Composite Systems.- Hubble Space Telescope Observations of Baade's Window.- Long Period Variable AGB Stars in a Field towards the Galactic Bulge.- Preliminary Results of the Two Micron Galactic Survey.- Metallicity of Two Stars in Baade's Window.- The Bulge/Halo Interface: Rotational Kinematics from [Fe/H]=-3.0 to Solar.- Detectability of Bulge stars.- The Bulge-Halo Transition Region.- SIO Maser Survey of the Bulge IRAS Sources.- Cross-Correlation of the Two Micron Galactic Survey with IRAS.- Microlensing towards the Galactic Bulge.- TiO Bands in Composite Systems.- Kinematics of the Galactic Bulge: The Velocity Ellipsoid.- Comparing M and K Giants in the Bulge.- PG3, a Field in the Bulge of Our Galaxy: Description of a Galactic Model.- Star Clusters as Tracers of Galactic Subsystems.- Stellar Population Synthesis in the Bulge of our Galaxy.- CCD BVRI Photometry of Stars in the Galactic Bulge.- The IR Stellar Population around the Galactic Center.- Studies of the Galactic Bulges using the Post-Theoretical Mass Method.- A study of the Abundance Distributions along the Minor Axis of the Galactic Bulge.- The UV and Optical Reddening Law to the Galactic Bulge and CNO Abundances in Bulge Planetary Nebulae.- Do the OH/IR Stars within 100 pc of the Galactic Center belong to the Disk Population?.- Dynamics of OH/IR Stars in the Inner Galactic Bulge.- Synthetic Photometric Indices for Galactic Globular Clusters.- HB Morphology and Integrated Spectra of Globular Clusters: A Theoretical Approach.- Proper Motions: What Dynamical Information can we Easily Extract from Them ?.- Kinematical Features of the Main Bulge in a Multi-Component Galactic Model.- Point-Axial Mass Distribution in the External Galactic Bulge.- The Contribution of the Galactic Bulge to the Galactic Rotation Curve.- The Construction of Stäckel Potentials for Galactic Dynamical Modeling.- Two-Integral Distribution Functions for Axisymmetric Galaxies.- Two-Integral Models with almost Circular Orbits.- Simple Models of Galactic Bulges.- Generalized Isochrone Models for Spherical Stellar Systems.- Bulge and Disk: A Simple Self-Gravitating Model.- Orbital Elements of Different Galactic Population Objects.- Orbital Structure of Triaxial Equilibrium Models of Various Shapes.- Globally Stable Equilibria of Collisionless Self-Gravitating Matter.- Mixing in Collisionfree Systems.- On the Formation Mechanisms for Ellipticals and Bulges.- Analytical Models for Rotating and Flattened Perturbations in Bulges.- Tumbling Instability in Oblate Rotating Stellar Systems.- Investigating a Self-Consistent Galactic Potential with Central Mass Concentration.- Delayed Formation of Bulges by Dynamical Processes.- Peanut Shaped Bars.- The Influence of a Halo on the Evolution of Elliptical Configurations.- SPH Simulations of the Chemical and Dynamical Evolution of the Galactic Bulge.- Primeval Starburst and Bulge Formation.- Secular Evolutionary Trends in Ellipticals and Bulges due to Mergers.- Analytical Models for Ellipticals and Bulges with Rotation.- Bulges and Ellipticals: Can Formation Mechanisms be the Same ?.- The Effect of a Bar on the Kinematics of a Central Ring Structure in NGC 4736.- Kinematic Signatures of Triaxial Stellar Systems.- Colour Gradients in Galaxy Bulges.- Velocity Dispersions and Metallicities of Box-Shaped Galaxies.- Photometric Properties of Box-Shaped Galaxies.- Hot Stellar Populations in the M31 Bulge.- Line Profiles in the Bulge of NGC 7217.- On the Photometric Characteristics of Ellipticals and Bulges of Spirals in Interacting Systems.- The Counter-Rotating Twin Disks in NGC 4550.- Stellar Kinematica Evidence for Massive Black Holes Revisited.- Photometric and Kinematic Properties of Disky Elliptical Galaxies.- Abundance Jump in the Inner Bulges of Galaxies.- Stellar Population in the Nuclei of Early-Type Galaxies.- On the Difference in Formation History between Bulges and Elliptical.- The Velocity Fields of Elliptical Galaxies: Constraints on Intrinsic Shapes.- Triaxiality in the Bulges of Spirals: Dynamical Implications.- Extracting Kinematics from Spectra: A New Method and NGC 4406.- Nuclear Molecular Gas in the Virgo Cluster SO Galaxy NGC 4710.- IR Imaging of Spiral Galaxy Bulges.- A Triaxial Model for the Bulge of NGC 4697.- Indices.- Object Index.- Author Index.