An inscription over the entrance says the Umayyad caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik built the palace in the year 727. The article names no architect. It is square, with sides of 230 feet (70 m), and stood two stories high, with three round corner towers and a fourth tower at the remaining corner. The walls were mudbrick on a masonry base, and most of the mudbrick has since eroded away.
The gateway blends Persian, Byzantine and Arab elements. The site once had a bath house, olive oil buildings and an irrigated garden. The Ayyubids and Mamluks reused it, and it was abandoned after the Mongol invasions.
The gateway and two floor frescoes were moved to the National Museum of Damascus. The reservoir, a bath and a khan remain visible on site.
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