The LHCb experiment: Status and recent results

The LHCb experiment is one of the major research projects at the Large Hadron Collider. Its acceptance and instrumentation is optimised to perform high-precision studies of flavour physics and particle production in a unique kinematic range at unprecedented collision energies. Using large data samples accumulated in the years 2010-2012, the LHCb collaboration has conducted a series of measurements providing a sensitive test of the Standard Model and strengthening our knowledge of flavour physics, QCD and electroweak processes. The status of the experiment and some of its recent results are presented here. (authors)