We review here some general properties of antiferromagnetic Heisenberg spin
chains, emphasizing and discussing the role of hidden symmetries in the
classification of the various phases of the models. We present also some recent
results that have been obtained with a combined use of Conformal Field Theory
and of numerical Density Matrix Renormalization Group techniques.Comment: To be published in the proceedings of the XIII Conference on
"Symmetries in Physics", held in Bregenz (Voralberg, Austria), 21-24/7/2003.
Plain LaTeX2e, 4 EPS figure