  An overview of the status of the 17 m diameter MAGIC telescope project will
be given. During phase I, the telescope will reach a threshold of 30 GeV and a
sensitivity of 6.0 10$^{-11}$ cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$. First light is foreseen in
mid 2001 and first observations in 2002. The expected capabilities of the
telescope for high energy astrophysics and fundamental physics will be
reviewed.
