Editing Palais Garnier (section)

====Main façade====
The principal façade is on the south side of the building, overlooking the [[Place de l'Opéra]] and terminates the perspective along the [[Avenue de l'Opéra]]. Fourteen painters, mosaicists and seventy-three sculptors participated in the creation of its ornamentation.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Angels of Paris: An Architectural Tour Through the History of Paris|last=Flannery|first=Rosemary|publisher=The Little Bookroom|year=2012|isbn=978-1-936941-01-8|location=New York|page=173}}</ref>

[[File:Opéra Garnier facade with sculpture labels.jpg|thumb|upright=3.2|centre|Façade of the Palais Garnier with labels indicating the locations of various sculptures]]

The two gilded figural groups, [[Charles Gumery]]'s ''L'Harmonie'' (Harmony) and ''La Poésie'' (Poetry), crown the apexes of the principal façade's left and right [[avant-corps]].<ref>Fontaine 2000, pp. 92–93.</ref> They are both made of gilt copper electrotype.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Paris Opéra: Charles Garnier's Opulent Architectural Masterpiece |last=Gjertson |first=Stephen |url=http://stephengjertsongalleries.com/?p=834 |publisher=Stephen Gjertson Galleries |date=28 June 2010 |quote=Charles-Alphonse-Achille Gumery, Harmony, 1869. Gilded galvanoplastic bronze, height: 24' 7 1/4, west facade attic group.}}</ref>

Below Gumery's ''L'Harmonie'', in the left (west) [[pediment]], is a sculpted [[relief]] of two women sitting down representing Architecture and Industry by [[Jean Claude Petit]]. The women surround an escutcheon with the words "ARCHITECTURE" and "INDUSTRIE" in gold. The woman who represents architecture holds a [[Compass (drawing tool)|compass]] and a plan of the Opéra Nouvel, at her feet is a winged genius holding a torch. The woman representing industry holds a lead pig and a hammer, while a winged genius stands at her feet, carrying a cup full of jewels.<ref name=Fontaine2000p86>Fontaine 2000, p. 86.</ref>

In the right (east) pediment a sculpture of two women sitting down representing Painting and Sculpture by [[Théodore Gruyère]]. The women surround an escutcheon with the words "PEINTURE" (painting) and "SCULPTURE" in gold. The woman who represents painting holds a brush and a palette, at her feet is a putto holding a pencil.
The woman representing sculpture holds a hammer and a chisel,  at her feet is a putto sculpturing a bust with a mallet and a gouge.<ref name=Fontaine2000p86 />

The bases of the two avant-corps are decorated (from left to right) with four major multi-figure groups sculpted by [[François Jouffroy]] (''Poetry'', also known as ''Harmony''),<ref>Jouffroy's group is titled ''l'Harmonie'' in Nuitter 1878, [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5708010j/f35.image.r=.langEN p. 11], and in Garnier 1875–81, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FJZZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA424 vol. 1, p. 424], [https://books.google.com/books?id=SZZZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA273 vol. 2, p. 273], but is identified as ''La Poésie'' in the "Table des planches" of the 1875 atlas folio ''Statues décoratives'' ([[:File:Durandelle Opera Statues decoratives 002.jpg|View at Wikimedia Commons]]), and according to Fontaine 2000, p. 82, is also sometimes referred to as ''Lyric Poetry''.</ref> [[Jean-Baptiste Claude Eugène Guillaume]] (''Instrumental Music''), [[Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux]] (''[[La Danse (Carpeaux)|The Dance]]'', criticised for indecency), and [[Jean-Joseph Perraud]] (''Lyrical Drama'').<ref>Fontaine 200, pp. 82–85.</ref> The façade also incorporates other work by Gumery, [[Alexandre Falguière]] and others.<ref>Fontaine 2000, pp. 85–86.</ref>

Gilded [[galvanoplastic]] bronze busts of many of the great composers are located between the columns of the theatre's front façade and depict, from left to right, [[Gioachino Rossini|Rossini]], [[Daniel Auber|Auber]], [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]], [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]], [[Gaspare Spontini|Spontini]], [[Giacomo Meyerbeer|Meyerbeer]], and [[Fromental Halévy|Halévy]]. On the left and right lateral returns of the front façade are busts of the librettists [[Eugène Scribe]] and [[Philippe Quinault]], respectively.<ref>Fontaine 2000, pp. 87, 88.</ref>

The attic storey façade is decorated with low and high reliefs with the letters "N" and "E", the imperial monogram (Napoléon Empereur). The low reliefs are by [[Louis Villeminot]], and the high reliefs are by [[Jacques-Léonard Maillet]]. The high reliefs consist of four sets of ornamental figures. Each group has two winged women on either side of a [[putto]] holding up a medallion bearing the letter ("E") and the imperial crown. One woman has a trumpet and a palm, the other, a torch and a palm. There were four repetitions of these themes. Two groups have a globe and a lyre on the ground, and the two other groups have two scrolls, a mask, and a laurel wreath. There are seven low reliefs with medallions surrounded by scrolls with two children on either side holding up a garland of flowers and fruits. Five are in the central part of the attic storey having the letter ("N") in the medallion and alternate the high reliefs, and the other two are on the east and west returns of the avant-corps.<ref>Fontaine 2000, p. 91.</ref>

A frieze running along the top of the attic storey has fifty-three comic and tragic antique masks in gilt cast iron by {{Ill|Jean-Baptiste Klagmann|fr}}.<ref>Fontaine 2000, p. 92.</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="200px" caption="Exterior artwork">
Image:Palais Garnier Statue.JPG|[[Charles Gumery|Gumery]]'s ''L'Harmonie'' (1869), atop the left [[avant-corps]] of the façade, is 7.5 metres (25&nbsp;ft) of gilt copper electrotype
Image:PhotoB 062.jpg|''Apollo, Poetry and Music'' roof sculpture by [[Aimé Millet]]
Image:Apollon opera Garnier.jpg|''Apollo, Poetry and Music; Apollo's lyre'' detail
Image:Right roof sculptures Paris Opera.jpg|''Poetry'' roof sculpture by [[Charles Gumery]]
Image:Harmony-Poetry-Music-statue-Garnier.jpg|''Harmony'' façade sculpture by [[Francois Jouffroy]] (depicts Harmony-Poetry-Music)
Image:Lyrical drama Perraud.jpg|''Lyrical Drama'' façade sculpture by [[Jean-Joseph Perraud]]
Image:Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux La Danse.jpg|''[[La Danse (Carpeaux)|The Dance]]'' by [[Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux]]
Image:PhotoB 064.jpg|Bronze busts of Beethoven and Mozart on the front façade
Image:Exterior-light-garnier.jpg|Light outside the building
</gallery>