The age of galaxies is perhaps one of the most fundamental questions in
extragalactic astronomy for it sets the epoch for the commencement of
baryonic evolution. The two opposing schemes of galaxy formation
(monolithic, old galaxies, versus hierarchical, young galaxies) have each
found support in contradictory observations taken in the last decade. I
will present a unified interpretation which demonstrates that a vast
majority of present-day galaxies have old stellar populations, in agreement
with recent high redshift studies.