Its height is 312.8 metres above sea level (NHN), although map data vary between 312 m and 318 m depending on the source.

A medieval hill fort on top of the mountain has been dated archeologically to the epoch of 900 to 930 C. E., but no historical documentation exists.

Already John George I, Elector of Saxony had the idea of building a tower on Collmberg, but the Thirty Years' War prevented execution of the plans.

[4] Innkeeper Lettau from Calbitz started to sell beer from a mobile installation on Collmberg around 1840 and had a restaurant built a few years later after obtaining approval from the government.

A staircase with 99 steps, initially outside and only turning inside in the upper story, leads to the observation platform.

Weather permitting, it allows views towards Leipzig, the Petersberg north of Halle (Saale), Augustusburg and the Ore mountains, Saxon Switzerland and Landeskrone near Görlitz.

Due to the excellent views from the tower, Collmberg was selected as a first-order point of the 1865 arc measurement.

[12] A mechanically coupled horizontal pendulum for measurements of the inclination of the Earth's surface was constructed here by Heinz Lettau in 1936–1937.

[14] The continuous seismic measurements, performed since 1932, helped to investigate claims of a German nuclear test on 2 October 1944.

[16] The high sensitivity of the Collmberg seismographs allows to record minute surface movements resulting from underground explosions, quarry blasts, or rock bursts.