Cinnabar means to gild silver and gold to objects) "the toxic properties of mercury were well known. It was dangerous to those who mined and processed cinnabar, it caused shaking, loss of sense, and death. Data suggest that mercury was retorted from cinnabar and the workers were exposed to the toxic mercury fumes." Overexposure to mercury, mercurialism, was seen as an occupational disease to the ancient Romans: "Mining in the Spanish cinnabar mines of Almadén, southwest of Madrid, was regarded as being akin to a death sentence due to the shortened life expectancy of the miners, who were slaves or convicts."
Glassworks Museum of the Ore Mountains in 1750, of Purschenstein Castle was placed under protection. Through grants the house, which is owned by the parish, was refurbished and, with the help of the local branch of the Ore Mountain Club, turned into a museum. In May 1996 the Ore Mountain Glassworks Museum ("Erzgebirgische Glashüttenmuseum") opened its first exhibition. It contained pieces from the roughly 800-year-old glassmaking industry in the Ore Mountains. The exhibition focusses particularly on the history of the Heidelbach Glassworks from 1488 to 1827. Since opening, the museum has also been enhanced by the replica of a glass melting furnace in an adjoining building,