The present invention provides a vacuum processing apparatus that allows easy exchange of processing chambers. A vacuum processing apparatus of the present invention has a processing chamber and a carrying-in-and-out chamber. The carrying-in-and-out chamber is fixed and located at a position above the processing chamber. The processing chamber can be lowered by a vertically moving mechanism. Therefore, the processing chamber is separated from the carrying-in-and-out chamber by lowering the processing chamber. A conveying means is connected to the processing chamber so that it is possible to easily convey the processing chamber after being removed from the carrying-in-and-out chamber. The operation for exchanging the processing chambers can be simpler than in the conventional systems.