[1] The museum is located in the central area of Potsdamer Platz, formerly known as the "death strip",[2] as it lies on the perimeters of the wall which once divided East and West Berlin.

The museum acts as an educational institution, with its permanent exhibitions bridging together centuries of espionage stories and tactics, immersing visitors in a multi-media experience.

[4] Located on the previous division between East and West Berlin, the museum is positioned in a popular spot, surrounded by other tourist destinations like the Martin-Gropius-Bau, the Brandenburg Gate, Potsdamer Platz, the Bundesrat of Germany, Topography of Terrors and the Kulturforum with the Philharmonie and Neuer Nationalgalerie.

The architecture of the museum was designed by Frank Wittmer and was inspired by the Glienicker Bridge, which ran over the Havel River, bordering East and West Berlin.

Shortly after the museums opening, the business encountered some financial issues with its innovative funding model, resulting in its temporary closure.

Günther collected historically significant artefacts from former secret service workers and contemporary witnesses to create a museum dedicated to spying and espionage,[7] which was once at the city of Berlin's centre.

Garamantis and Arts Electronica companies helped create and conceive the leading edge and high-tech multimedia exhibits and interactive models in the museum.

[9] The exhibits are positioned in chronological order, creating a physical timeline that visitors can walk through, beginning with secret scriptures from antiquity and ending with the recent NSA debate.

[7] The 10-meter long timeline creates a grand introduction for visitors through presenting the historical developments of spying from ancient Egypt all the way up until WW1.

[10] The entrance to the museum has security cameras peering down on the visitors, setting the scene for the entire facility as substantive focus of the exhibition is on data acquisition in the Internet Age.

Garamantis invented all the interactive technologies and a software system for the Berlin Spy Museum, in collaboration with designs from arts electronica.

[14] In 1945, the city of Berlin was split between the NATO powers and the USSR, making it a frontier for the Cold War and eventually becoming known as the international capital of espionage.

Information and knowledge became the most important and resourceful weapon during the Cold War, which led to the creation of sophisticated methods of spying such as Operation Gold.

Operation Gold involved the British and American intelligence organisations creating tunnels underneath the soviet occupied zone of East Berlin to try and tap into their telephone wires and gather information on the enemy.

[18] Original artifacts have been collected over the years and realistic replicas have been created to expose visitors to methods and tactics used by spies and secret services throughout history.

The cipher machine is similar to the Enigma device that was used to protect commercial, diplomatic and military communication during World War II.

[3] In 1979 the Stasi began to archive hundreds of "suspected political dissidents"[21] smells through collecting their odours on materials such as clothing and storing them in air-tight jars.

The Stasi eventually built an extensive scent archives in the belief that individual's odours could be preserved and that trained canine noses could detect them.