  We present new CCD photometry of the distant old open star cluster Berkeley
32 in Johnson V and Cousins I passbands. A total of about 3200 stars have been
observed in a field of 13X13 arcmin**2. The colour-magnitude diagram in V,
(V-I) has been generated down to V = 22 mag. A broad but well defined main
sequence is clearly visible. Some blue stragglers, a well developed subgiant
branch and a Red Clump are also seen. By fitting isochrones to this CMD as well
as to other CMDs available in the literature, and using the Red Clump location,
the reddening, distance and age of the star cluster have been determined. The
cluster has a distance of 3.3 kpc, its radius is about 2.4 pc; the reddening
E(B-V) is 0.08 mag and the age is 6.3 Gyr. By comparison with theoretical
isochrones, a metallicity of [Fe/H]= -0.2 dex has been estimated. We find a
much flatter mass function than what has been found for young clusters. If the
mass function is a power law dN/dm = const.*m**alpha, then we get alpha =
-0.5+-0.3 in the mass range 0.6-1.1 solar masses. This may be seen as a
signature of the highly evolved dynamical state of the cluster.
