Schwarzenberg Castle represents the manorial and sovereign mining administration for tin and iron ore mining in the Western Ore Mountains and illustrates, moreover, the close ties with Czech mining areas. Temporarily, it was a headquarter of a mining district which also included the former Saxon mining towns of Gottesgab (now Boží Dar, founded 1533) and Platten (now Horní Blatná, founded 1534). In 1546 both mining towns were ceded from Saxony to the Bohemian Kingdom).

First officially documented in 1212, the Schwarzenberg castle was established around 1150. By incorporating a part of the existing building structure, an electoral hunting lodge was built from 1555 to 1558. Schwarzenberg Castle is built around three sides of a practically square courtyard with the keep in the south-west, the great hall in the east and a connecting building to the south. Instead of the usual circular wall, an administration building was erected to the north. With its lower section dating from the 12th century, the keep was subsequently extended upwards. The three-storey tower extension protruding to the west with late Gothic crow-stepped gable and blind-arch arcades dates from the 15th century.