The National Museum occupies what was the Sultan of Lahej's town palace in Crater, a stone building with Indian-influenced wooden balconies built in the late 19th century. The collection covers Yemeni antiquities — Himyarite and Sabaean inscriptions, alabaster grave stelae, bronze figures — as well as the ethnographic material that was once one of the museum's main strengths.
The museum was looted during the 2015 fighting and many pieces are missing. Whether it is open at any given moment depends on the security situation and on staff being able to reach the building. When it does open, the surviving collection is still worth the visit, and the building itself — particularly the ornate first-floor reception rooms — is one of the few accessible interiors of British-era Crater.