The entrance to the museum is spectacular, since it is adorned by the gate of an 8th-century Umayyad desert palace of Qasr Al-Hayr Al-Gharbi (moved here from excavation 1936-1939), set between a pair of modern semi-cylindrical towers with a geometric and flora decoration. The top uses ornamentation borrowed from Hellenistic, Roman and Persian Sassanid designs. The palace was built 724-727.