We present a detailed analysis of the star cluster population in the starburst galaxy NGC 5253 .
Our work is based on HST optical and VLT Ks images .
We detect more than 300 clusters , and for all of them we derive the photometry in the V , I and Ks bands and built a color-color V-I/V-Ks diagram .
After correction for star contamination , we matched 115 sources in all the three bands V , I and Ks .
Comparison of the data points with models shows that most of the sources are affected by a red excess .
The ages of the younger clusters are obtained from an HST H \alpha image which makes it possible to partially remove the degeneracy between age and extinction and to calculate the screen optical depth toward the clusters .
The V and Ks luminosity functions show a marked turnover at M _ { V } = -7.3 and M _ { K } = -10.2 , with a shape roughly similar to the Gaussian distribution of old globular clusters .
We convert the luminosity function into a mass function , and find that the clusters younger than 10 Myr show a power law distribution with slope -1.6 , while the distribution of the older clusters has a maximum at about 4 \cdot 10 ^ { 4 } M _ { \odot } .