War museum La Coupole V2 Launcher site and underground bunker complex

In the morning the driver guide will pick you up at 06:30 am at the following adress : LIDO DE PARIS 116 Av. des Champs-Élysées, 75008 Paris

(Easy to access by metro Line 1 and to get off at Metro station « George V»)

La Coupole, located 5 km from Saint-Omer (Nord-Pas-de-Calais), is one of the most impressive remnants of the Second World War in Europe. It is a symbolic place of the Nazi oppression, due to its overwhelming mass, the nature of its underground facilities and the suffering of the slave labourers who built it.

This huge bunker, built by the Todt Organisation in 1943-1944 had to be the base for launching the V2 rockets against London. Developed in the ultra-secret Peenemünde centre by Von Braun's team, these missiles, along with the American atomic bomb, were the most innovative devices developed during World War II. The V2s were mass-produced by deportees from the Dora concentration camp in the underground factory "Mittelwerk", located at the heart of Germany.

Heavily bombed by the Allies, La Coupole was abandoned during the summer of 1944, after the Normandy landings. The V2s, which struck London and Antwerp in September 1944, were launched by mobile units established in Holland.

Since 1997, this place, which has been turned into a History and Memory Centre, a world war II museum, has welcomed more than 2 million visitors.

Rex Circuit

Following the Wernher von Braun route, you will discover that the V2 rocket, a real weapon of destruction, is actually the ancestor of all present-day rockets. La Coupole  will help you understand the links between war, science and Nazism and the way in which the scientific leaders of a war became the pioneers of the space race.

Peenemünde and the A4/V2 rocket

• Animation, in relief, of the workings of the A4/V2 rocket engine (3 min)
• V2 rocket
• V2 engine

The V1/ Peenemünde and Los Alamos

• V1 rocket
• Touch Table "Aerial reconnaissance and photo-interpretation"
• Film: "3D reconstruction of the Mittelwerk underground factory and the Dora concentration camp" (4 min)
• Actual size replica of the Little Boy atomic bomb

Dora. The V1 and V2 in London and Antwerp

• Film: "The special constructions" (8 min)
• Series of four models

The legacy of Peenemünde and the conquest of space (1945-1969)

• Silent film: "Discovery of Dora-Nordhausen by the Americans" (5 min)
• Film: "The conquest of space" (22 min)
• Same-scale series of 7 model rockets (1/20) and scale 1 model of Sputnik
• Comics on rockets

"Dora" exhibit

• Colour photographic report by Walter Frentz
• Drawings by Léon Delarbre

Cineac Circuit

Relive the major periods of the occupation of France by the German Army (1940-1944) through images: the invasion, exodus, the difficulties of everyday life, popular resistance and the Liberation.

On entering the "Cinéac" room, you can watch a projection of the slide show "Nord-Pas-de-Calais in German hands (1940-1945)" (duration: 21 min). After having seen the slide show, you can leave the room on the lower level of the dome to continue following the tour on this theme:

The invasion

• Film: "Invasion 1940" (17 min)
• War crimes
• Film « Dunkirk 1940 » (11 min)
• Map table on "The German invasion of 1940"

The Occupation

• Series of 7 models related to the Atlantic Wall
• Film « The Todt organisation and the Atlantic Wall » (9 min)
• Reconstruction of a shop from this era
• Uniform display
• Film « Being an occupier in the north of France » (8 min)
• Film « The grey days; daily life under the Occupation » (11 min)

Collaboration / Persecution / Resistance / Repression

• Objects from the air war
• Reconstruction of the "Execution Wall" at the Citadel in Lille
• Objects from the Resistance (post-transmitter, typewriter, elements of sabotage)
• Film « Propaganda and collaboration » (8 min)
• Film « The resistance in Nord-Pas-de-Calais » (11 min)

The Liberation

• Citroën Traction from the Liberation.
• Film « The Liberation of Northern France » (11 min) 
• Film « A wounded region: the reconstruction » (7 min)

"Deportation and Genocide" exhibit

• Film « The Nazi concentration camp system, deportation and genocide" (20 min)

It was from La Coupole that the V2 rocket, the ancestor of all modern rockets, was destined to take off. Today, on the launching site, the simply spectacular Planetarium offers you an unforgettable journey into space. Take place inside the massive 360-degree room wearing your active 3D glasses and travel through the universe.

Follow Yuri Gagarin during his first space flight, step onto Mars with the Curiosity rover and discover all sorts of other celestial happenings. Come and discover the Planetarium on its own, or combine your session with a visit to the museum.

Depending on the sessions, the films are shown in 3D by six video projectors, associated with an astronomical simulator generating 360° high resolution images. With a 360° hemispherical screen of 15 metres in diameter, a 15° angled floor and a 5.1 surround sound system, the Planetarium offers its viewers a total immersion into Space and Science.

Dream to Fly (Starts at 11:00 am)

ALL AUDIENCES - 3D

Discover the mystery of flight with Leonardo da Vinci, the Montgolfier brothers, the Wright brothers and other inventors. Experience the adventure and find out how this immense and challenging dream, for which mankind has strived since the beginning of history became reality.

Dynamic Earth (Starts at 12:15 pm)

ALL AUDIENCES - 3D

An astounding film which explores the internal functioning of the climate trough extraordinary computer simulations! Follow a trail from energy from the sun into atmosphere, the oceans, and the biosphere which together form our climate, dive into the eye of massive hurricane, get face with shark and giant whales, and fly into the center of active volcanoes.

Lucia, the Secret of Shooting Stars (Starts at 02:00 pm)

ALL AUDIENCES - 3D

James and Vladimir take a seat in their spaceship to study polar auroras from space. They meet a hummingbird, Lucia, just as curious as they are. Together, they will seek to understand the shooting stars and the origin of meteorites, these mysterious pebbles that fall on Earth ...

During the return drive to Paris you will have time to relax aboard the minivan before to be dropped off in Central Paris  (Drop off in front of "LIDO DE PARIS 116 Av. des Champs-Élysées, 75008 Paris" in the evening around 07:30 pm.

Easy there to catch a taxi cab either to find metro stations (Ligne 1 Métro : George V)