La Coupole

La Coupole mini guide

Guide point	Details
Department:	North East France > Nord Pas de Calais > Pas-de-Calais >
Address::	La Coupole, BP 284, 62504 Saint Omer Cedex, France.
Switch board number:	+ 33 (0)3 21 12 27 27
Email address:	reservation@lacoupole.com
Visit owner's personal website:	http://www.lacoupole-france.com/
Public Transport:	To get there by car: From Calais: A26 exit n°3 From Paris: A1 then A26 exit n°4  From Lille: A25 exit Hazebrouck / Saint-Omer From Rouen: A16 then N42 From Ghent: A14/E17 then A25 dir. Dunkirk exit Hazebrouck / Saint-Omer From Brussels: E429 to Lille then A25 dir. Dunkirk exit Hazebrouck /Saint-Omer
Facilities general:	La Couploe is open every day except the Christmas period as below. Hours of opening are from 9.00 am to 6.00 pm all year except July and August when the hours are from 10.00 am to 7.00 pm The site is closed over the Christmas period from 24th December to 6th January inclusive.
Quick links to accommodation:	Accommodation near La Coupole - Hotels in La Coupole Show accommodation in Pas-de-Calais - Self catering in Pas-de-Calais - Bed and Breakfast in Pas-de-Calais properties with pools in Pas-de-Calais -

Situated in Helfaut-Wizernes, Pas-de-Calais, 5 km from the town of Saint-Omer, La Coupole is a gigantic underground bunker designed by the Nazis, in 1943-1944, to store, prepare and launch the V2 rockets (first missiles to reach the stratosphere), the secret weapon that Hitler was counting on to destroy London and reverse the course of the war.

The bunker is among one of the most impressive relics of the second world war in Europe and in 1987 the Pas-de-Calais general council and the Nord-Pas-de-Calais regional council decided to transform this symbolic site into a place of rememberence and education.

First open to the public in 1997 having been rehabilitated as a History and Remembrance Centre, LA COUPOLE recalls two episodes of the history of the twentieth century, closely linked to the site of La Coupole - the development of the stratospheric rockets, first of all instruments of death before becoming the launchers of the conquest of space and the second world war, through the example of the occupation of the North of France by Nazi Germany between 1940 and 1945.

The historical information is transmitted to visitors with audio-visual facilities, allowing you to explore at your own pace.