The Reception Pavilion is asalamlik (a men’s reception area in houses and palaces). It consists of two floors. The first room on the ground floor was used as a reception area for official guests, senior statesmen, and others to congratulate Prince Muhammad Ali during official ceremonies. The second room was used to receive distinguished guests before Friday prayer in the palace mosque.
On the landing between the two flights of the staircase leading up to the upper floor is a model of the 877-9 AH / 1472-4 AD mosque of Qaytbay, made of wood inlaid with mother of pearl at the school founded by Muhammad Ali’s mother, Emina Ilhamy.
The upper floor has two halls. The one on the left of the staircase is the Moroccan Hall, so named after the style of its decoration. To the right of the staircase is a small vestibule that leads to the Syrian Hall, which gets its name from the wood covering its walls and ceiling whose exquisite decoration is done in the same style as in wood decoration in Syrian architecture in the Ottoman Period. The other door in the vestibule leads to a small room for women whose two windows are covered with beautiful mashrabiyyas-latticework screen of turned wood. In addition to the main halls and rooms, the two floors of the pavilion also contain a number of small rooms and the supple.
