The International Museum of the Baroque opened in Puebla, Mexico, on February 4, 2016. The museum was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Toyo Ito and dedicated to Baroque art, architecture, literature, music, theater, and related cultural forms. Reference pages in English, Spanish, and French all document the exact opening date, while Architectural Digest's retrieved profile describes Ito's white concrete, curving building as a deliberately contemporary counterpoint to the ornate historical style it houses. The project was notable not only for its architecture and ambition but also for controversy over costs, transparency, and the provenance and borrowing of works. In art-historical terms, it presented Baroque culture as a transmedia, international subject rather than simply a period style.
The museum made Puebla a high-profile site for debates about spectacle, heritage, and contemporary museum architecture.