  MACE (Major Atmospheric Cherenkov Experiment), an imaging atmospheric
Cherenkov telescope, has recently been installed by the HiGRO (Himalayan
Gamma-Ray Observatory) collaboration at Hanle (32.8$^\circ$N, 78.9$^\circ$E,
4270m asl) in Ladakh region of North India. The telescope has a 21m diameter
large light collector consisting of indigenously developed 1424 square-shaped
diamond turned spherical aluminum mirror facets of size $\sim$
0.5m$\times$0.5m. MACE is the second largest Cherenkov telescope at the highest
altitude in the northern hemisphere. The imaging camera of the telescope
consists of 1088 photo-multiplier tubes with a uniform pixel resolution of
$\sim 0.125^\circ$ covering a field of view of $\sim$ 4.0$^\circ$ $\times$
4.0$^\circ$. The main objective of the MACE telescope is to study gamma-ray
sources mainly in the unexplored energy region 20 -100 GeV and beyond with high
sensitivity. In this paper, we describe the key design features and current
status of MACE including results from the trial observations of the telescope.
