Germany's intelligence agencies are inaugurating a joint spy school in the heart of Berlin, a city that was dubbed the 'capital of spies' during the Cold War and remains a hotspot of espionage.

The heads of the foreign and domestic spy agencies on Tuesday officially opened the Center for Intelligence Service Training close to where the Berlin Wall once sliced the city in two.

Officials say agents will be taught how to fend off cyberattacks and foil terrorists. The new training center features workshops and chemistry labs.

The spy school is located at the new headquarters of the foreign intelligence agency BND, which was opened earlier this year and provides space for 4,000 staff. It was previously based in a sprawling Nazi-era complex outside Munich.