Teatro Principal, Baroque theatre building in central Puebla, Mexico.

Teatro Principal is a yellow-painted theatre building with a curved, red-tiled roof capped by a small dome, occupying the left side of a paved square in Puebla. Its main facade faces the square with tall windows in decorative surrounds and a row of arched openings at ground level to the right of the main block. A broad band of darker trim runs along the roofline, spaced with small ornamental pinnacles, and a tower-like element rises where two wings meet.

The city council built the theatre in 1759 on part of the Plazuela de San Francisco, demolishing the gateway to the Alameda, and it opened in 1761. It was the sixth coliseum in Puebla and followed earlier attempts, including Juan Gómez Melgarejo's Corral de Comedias, closed in 1613. The nuns of Santa Clara lent 10,000 pesos at 5% interest to add a storey, and a meat-supply levy also helped finish it.

The name Principal came after earlier ones: Corral de Comedias, then Antiguo Coliseo. The theatre hosts plays, opera, dance, concerts, festivals, children's shows, conferences and government reports. Its ceiling was painted by Puebla-born Miguel Jerónimo de Zendejas with Apollo and Thalia, the coat of arms Charles V granted the city, and a Latin motto rendered in Spanish as "El arte bueno ennoblece a los pueblos".

The theatre stands on the Plazuela de San Francisco; its main facade faces the square, with the entrance under the carved stone relief emblem crowned above the central doorway. The building is still in active use for plays, opera, dance, concerts and government reports, so the hall may be closed to casual visitors during an event.

The original ceiling was painted by Puebla artist Miguel Jerónimo de Zendejas with Apollo and Thalia, the coat of arms Charles V granted the city, and a Latin inscription translated as "good art ennobles peoples". Nuns of Santa Clara lent 10,000 pesos at 5% interest to add a further level to the theatre.