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 structure was designed by Nazi Germany as a launch facility for V-2 rockets against Allied targets. The site represents one of the most impressive examples of German military engineering from the Second World War period in France.
The bunker features a distinctive concrete dome structure, from which it derives its name 'La Coupole' (The Dome). This enormous facility was intended to be an underground rocket assembly and launch site, protected by massive concrete fortifications. Today, La Coupole serves as a history and science museum, offering visitors insight into the technological and human aspects of the Second World War, including the development of space exploration that followed from wartime rocketry.