St. Georgenhütte, electoral smeltery

Some 60 m northwest of the Siebenschlehener Pochwerk in Schneeberg Neustädtel, the Electoral smeltery (St. Georgenhütte), erected in 1665, is situated. The name refers to the older smelting site of the historically important mine St. Georg of Schneeberg. This two-storey building served to process bismuth-, cobalt- and nickel-containing silver ores. The St. Georgenhütte is the only smeltery in the Western Ore Mountains that has been largely preserved in its original construction state. The ores were processed using metallurgical methods, such as those known from the descriptions by Georgius Agricola (1494-1555) and Lazarus Ercker (1528-1595).