If since the end of the 18th century and throughout the nineteenth the museum was consolidated as a new public institution, at the beginning of the 21st century the museum has become a place for the massive influx of an active public and has become integrated into consumer culture in its broadest sense. The museum's relationship with the city and society, as a generator of large urban spaces and a magnet for tourists, has also contributed to the total mutation of the museum's traditional building type. Profusely illustrated with examples of recent museums, this book is organised into eight chapters, each describing one of the eight trends that can be considered the predominant forms of contemporary museums.