Coupole d’Helfaut

Beneath a concrete dome five metres thick, La Coupole was meant to house the launch base for the V2 rockets aimed at London. It never fired. Allied bombing put an end to the works before they were finished.

The history centre it houses today tells two stories that are really one, the occupation of northern France and the birth of the space age, both born of the same engineers and the same rockets. You make your way through the tunnels dug into the hillside, headphones on, between archives and first-hand accounts.

A three-dimensional planetarium carries the visit onwards, up to the sky. It is not a light-hearted outing, but it is one of the most memorable in the region.