The concrete dome squats on top of a hill outside Saint-Omer like a downed UFO. The sheer scale is at first hard to grasp. This is all that's visible above ground of the vast bunker that Hitler intended as the hi-tech launch pad for the world's first long-range ballistic missile.
The V2 rockets were 14 metres long, weighed 12.5 tonnes and had a range of 200 miles (320km) – within range of London. If the Allies had not disrupted building with their own hi-tech weaponry – the literally ground-breaking Tallboy bombs – the outcome of the second world war could have been different.
Visitors enter La Coupole through an impressively long tunnel, dotted with exhibitions on the history of the site and of the war. The four-mile underground network was dug in large part by forced labour under harsh conditions. A lift then whisks visitors up to the main gallery at the top of the dome. Here historical films are shown, as well as a real V2 rocket and a V1 flying bomb, more popularly known as the Doodlebug, which flew across the Channel at a rate of 100 per day.
The visit also features moving interactive tributes to Pas-de-Calais residents, in the reconstruction of a shop front and a worker's house from the period. There is also a replica of the execution wall in Lille, complete with a video projection of a last letter written by a man condemned to death by firing squad.
La Coupole was renovated in 2010, and it now takes the story beyond the second world war and into the space race. It was Nazi expertise that first guided America's efforts to put a man on the moon. Last July an impressive new digital planetarium was opened, with 3D technology unique in Europe, showing films about space and science. Sit down in the huge, round room and experience the breathtaking 3D along your journey through the universe, complete with expert commentary.
The tour takes half a day. After that, visitors can have a picnic in the dedicated area outside and take a pleasant stroll through the woodlands at the back, still pitted with bomb craters.
To find out more about this destination, visit gotofrancenow.com/northern-france-la-coupole
