The organizers of this meeting have asked me to present perspectives of nuclear physics. This means to identify the areas where nuclear physics will be expanding in the next future. In six chapters a short overview of these areas will be given, where I expect that nuclear physics willdevelop quite fast: A. Quantum Chromodynamics and effective field theories in the confinement region; B. Nuclear structure at the limits; C. High energy heavy ion collisions; D. Nuclear astrophysics; E. Neutrino physics; F. Test of physics beyond the standard model by rare processes. After a survey over these six points I will pick out a few topics where I will go more in details. There is no time to give for all six points detailed examples. I shall discuss the following examples of the six topics mentionned above: 1. The perturbative chiral quark model and the nucleon $��$-term, 2. VAMPIR (Variation After Mean field Projection In Realistic model spaces and with realistic forces) as an example of the nuclear structure renaissance, 3. Measurement of important astrophysical nuclear reactions in the Gamow peak, 4. The solar neutrino problem. As examples for testing new physics beyond the standard model by rare processes I had prepared to speak about the measurement of the electric neutron dipole moment and of the neutrinoless double beta decay. But the time is limited and so I have to skip these points, although they are extremely interesting.

27 pages. Invited talk given at the ``IX Cortona meeting on problems in theoretical nuclear physics", Cortona, Italy, October 9-12, 2002