Sultan Badr Abu Tuwaireq resided in the palace in 1584 after he restored it and built a mosque right next to it.

The museum was closed in 2015 due to the Yemeni Civil War when Al-Qaeda entered Hadramawt.

The museum showcases items excavated in the province, including tombstones that date back to the Stone Age and the dawn of civilisation in Yemen.

However, the museum's most prized possessions are stashed away, for fear of any of Yemen's warring groups targeting them.

Because of the ongoing conflict, it was at 'risk of collapse', left vulnerable by years of neglect and rain damage, including from the 2020 Yemen flood that killed dozens of people.