The Imaret was built by Mohamed (Mehmet/Muhammad) Ali Pasha (1805 - 1848), founder of the last royal dynasty of Egypt, as a tribute to his home town Kavala. It replaced an earlier Imaret, erected by Ibrahim Pasha. Four inscriptions that re saved on the building, report that its construction lasted from 1817/18 until 1820/21, while additions were made until 1864. The Imaret is a large complex of buildings, situated on the west side of the peninsula of Panagia (Virgin Mary) and it occupies a total area of 4160m2. It consists of four sections lined in a row, each of which is built around a courtyard in which it faces. In addition, all the rooms have a fireplace. In its final form Imaret consists of two schools for higher education (medreses), two prayerteaching rooms, a soup kitchen (imaret), a school for primary education (dershane - mescid) and the administration offices for the management, where sometimes teachers lived. In the early 20th century a wooden building was also added in the