The Jupiter Command Post, the nuclear bunker tucked beneath the Élysée Palace.

Hidden beneath the Élysée Palace in Paris sits one of the Republic’s most sensitive spaces: PC Jupiter, a command post housed in an old anti-air shelter. Protected by armored doors and designed to run in a major crisis, this bunker is closely linked to France’s nuclear deterrent command.

Behind the gilded façades, the salons and the forecourt of the Élysée hides a far sterner backdrop. The PC Jupiter, the ultra-secure command post of the presidency sits in the palace’s basements, beneath its East Wing. A strategic nerve center whose entrance is, of course, off limits to the public, where a portion of the most sensitive military decisions of the French state are made.

The story of this underground space begins in 1940, during the Phoney War. Under President Albert Lebrun, an air-raid shelter is laid out at the Élysée to safeguard the head of state. Several decades later, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing reshapes the site: in 1978, the former shelter becomes the Jupiter command post, associated with the French nuclear deterrence force.

The President of the Republic has, among other things, an office and a meeting room, inside a fortified complex that enables communication with the various military command centers. It is also from the PC Jupiter that the head of state can exercise his prerogatives over the use of nuclear weapons. In September 1981, interviewed by the BBC after descending into Jupiter, François Mitterrand stressed that the ultimate decision on deploying nuclear weapons rested solely with the President of the Republic.

The site is so secret that there are few images to prove it. A notable exception dates back to 1979: Valéry Giscard d'Estaing then allowed journalists to observe an exercise in the PC Jupiter. The INA archives show its airlocks, its corridors, the Defence Council chamber, offices, telexes, and the equipment that connects to the military operation centers.

Le PC Jupiter, le bunker anti-atomique situé sous le palais de l'Elysée — L’entrée du PC Jupiter, le poste de commandement sécurisé aménagé sous le palais de l’Élysée, accessible depuis les appartements présidentiels. Copyright / crédit : © Mike5983 / Wikimedia Commons – CC BY-SA 4.0

Giscard wasn't much taken with his bunker, which he supposedly dubbed the "fear burrow". The place isn’t reserved only for the extreme scenario of a nuclear war; it also serves as a command centre during major crises and for certain military operations. And the Jupiter Command Post has even hosted several defense councils during the Covid-19 crisis.

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