In 1317, during the period of Makurian decline, it was converted into a mosque, serving this purpose until it was closed and turned into a historic monument in 1969.

[3] The locals, now Muslim, associate the building with this period, calling it "mosque of Abdallah ibn Abi Sarh".

[10] The actual throne hall was on the upper floor,[8] which official delegations and processions reached by ascending a monumental staircase.

[12] At the end of the 13th century, after yet another confrontation with the Mamluks, the most prestigious buildings of Old Dongola, among them the Throne Hall, lay in ruins and the population had dropped drastically due to deportations.

[15] Alterations to the building, especially in the central hall on the upper floor, were made according to its new function, such as the inclusion of a mihrab and the application of plaster over the Christian wall paintings.

[16] Barshambu was not popular among his subjects due to his attitude and his reforms;[17] Nubiologist Włodzimierz Godlewski postulates that the conversion of the Throne Hall might have played a part in his fall.

One year later it received another restoration by Ahmed Helmi, naib of the mamur of Debba; numerous others conducted by the Sudan Antiquities Service and various museums followed in the mid-20th century.

[1] After the salvage excavation of Faras Cathedral, Polish archaeologists turned their attention to Old Dongola, where they started digging from 1964.

[29] The walls of the staircase had two layers of painted plaster, showing Archangel Michael wielding a spear, two warrior saints (one on foot and one on horseback) as well as several unidentifiable standing figures.

[31] Its east wall housed a large nativity scene featuring the Virgin Mary lying on a mattress, a crib with the Christ Child, angels and, on the left side of the painting, the three Biblical Magi.

[34] The other scene from the western part of the south wall initially featured the Transfiguration, but was later painted over with the Holy Trinity and a (barely preserved) king wearing a horned crown.

The north wall features a large cross, a priest and a king, who wears a crown, a blue veil and a white robe.

A later layer of painted plaster added the twenty-four elders from the Book of Revelation, depicted wearing white robes and wielding palm leaves, while sitting on thrones.