[4] The so-called Rochlitzer Porphyr, a rhyolitic tuff,[5] which makes up a large part of the mountain, was formed from deposits of late explosive eruptions of a volcano about 250 million years ago.

The tuff rock has been used since roughly a thousand years all over the region, also by Renaissance master builders Arnold von Westfalen and Hieronymus Lotter.

The tuff rock of Rochlitzer Berg has been named in May 2006 as one of the 77 most important national geotopes on Germany by the Academy of Geosciences in Hannover.

A memorial stone, commemorating the return of King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony from Prussian captivity after the Battle of the Nations, was erected in 1815 at the instigation of quarry owner Seidel and other sponsors.

The observation tower Friedrich-August-Turm, designed by the well-known Freiberg art master Eduard Heuchler and erected in 1860, was dedicated to king Frederick Augustus II of Saxony who died in an accident in 1854.

The music event Performance zum Stein takes place every year in one of the former quarries,[8] where Mittelsächsische Philharmonie and other bodies of sound present classical and experimental pieces.