La Coupole is a massive Second World War bunker complex located in the Pas-de-Calais department of northern France, approximately 5 kilometres from Saint-Omer. Originally codenamed Bauvorhaben 21 or Schotterwerk Nordwest, this concrete fortress was designed as a launch facility for V-2 rockets targeting London and southern England. The complex features a distinctive dome structure covering the main rocket preparation area, with extensive underground tunnels and storage facilities carved into the chalk hillside.
The bunker was intended to be a key component of Germany's Vergeltungswaffen (retaliation weapons) program, with rockets arriving by rail from the Nordhausen factory deep within the Kohnstein mountain. The facility includes the main dome, railway tunnel 'Ida' that would have allowed direct train access through the complex, and numerous unfinished tunnels where slave laborers worked under brutal conditions. Today, La Coupole operates as a museum dedicated to the history of the V-2 program and the broader context of the Second World War in northern France.