Attempts to detect a source at the position of the Galactic Center in the near infrared started as early as 1945 (Stebbins and Whitford 1947, Moroz 1961). Due to a combination of a lack in sensitivity and coarse sampling these initial efforts were not successful. The first detection was achieved by Becklin and Neugebauer (1968) at a wavelength of 2.2 μm in scans with 0.25' and 0.08' apertures corresponding to linear resolutions of 0.62 and 0.2 pc. These scans revealed the compact nuclear stellar cluster for the first time. In the following years single detector maps with higher spatial resolution were obtained by a number of authors. These maps resolved the central cluster into individual bright complexes. The introduction of multiplexed, near-infrared array detectors allowed more efficient mapping with yet higher angular resolution. The first maps of the Galactic Center using array detectors were obtained by Forrest et al (1986). These measurements started to resolve the central IRS16 complex into many individual sources. Lunar occultation measurements (Simons et al 1990, Simon et al 1990, Adams et al 1988) demonstrated that the brightest sources in the IRS 16 complex (IRS 16NE, 16C, 16SW and 16NW) are very compact with diameters less than 100 AU and therefore are most likely individual or multiple stars but not large clusters. Two-dimensional speckle imaging (as presented here and first published in Eckart et al 1992 and subsequent papers) resulted in the first diffraction-limitedmaps (0.15'' angular resolution corresponding to 0.006 pc) of the central 20'' × 20'' at 2.2 μm and 1.6 μm. So far these measurements have resolved the central cluster including several compact stellar complexes like IRS 1, IRS 13, and IRS 16SW complexes into about 600 individual stars (Eckart et al 1995). They have also revealed a complex of near-infrared sources very close to the position of Sgr A∗ for the first time (Genzel et al 1997). These results have been confirmed by repeated speckle imaging at the NTT, observations under excellent seeing conditions (Herbst et al 1993) as well as the first ‘tip tilt’ (a crude adaptive optics technique to compensate for seeing) measurements (Close et al 1995) at 1.6 μm with a resolution of 0.3''. These latter observations, however, have not been able to resolve the very central stellar cluster. Only recent speckle imaging with the 10 m diameter Keck telescope (Klein et al 1996, Ghez et al 1998) as well as the first adaptive optics measurements (Gezari et al 2000 and, most recently, the results from the ESO VLT adaptive optics: NAOS CONICA, in preparation) have revealed the same subarcsecond structure for the small stellar cluster around the radio position of Sgr A^∗. These observations have also confirmed the velocities of the stars in this area. With these techniques available it will be possible in the next years to exploit the Galactic Center as a laboratory for studying the physical processes in the immediate vicinity of a massive black hole. Future measurement with 8–10 m class telescopes as well as near infrared interferometric measurements will result in a determination of the full three dimensional orbits of the stars in the center. They will also help to monitor the variable source at the position of Sgr A^∗, will allow us to further constrain physical models of black hole accretion, and help to search for potential lensing effects of background stars by the central black hole.