The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), at present being built in Grenoble, France, is a state‐of‐the art synchrotron radiation facility open as of 1994 to users primarily from the 12 member countries. ESRF is funded for 30 beam lines, out of which 7 are to be opened in 1994 and the remainder step‐by‐step during the years to follow. The ESRF storage ring contains a total of 32 straight sections out of which 29 are available for insertion devices. So far the first set of 18 beam lines has been defined. Most of the ESRF beam lines will be on insertion devices, however additional beam lines on bending magnets can be installed by interested groups from the member countries by special arrangement.