According to the text in Arabic engraved over the doorway, the mosque was consecrated in the year 1196 of the Hegira, which corresponds to the year 1781/82 CE, i.e. in the early years of the rule of Al Jazzar Pasha in Acre.
The Mosque of Ahmed Jazzar was built on ruins of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. The Mosque is named after the ruler Al Jazzar, which means butcher, because of his extreme cruelty. Today the mosque is known as Jama El Basha (Mosque of the Pasha).
The columns creating the porch around the courtyard were looted from Caesarea; the rooms were intended for students and pilgrims. Below are large vaults, the basement of the Crusader church of St John.
The mosque is the most beautiful in the Galilee, decorated with blue and brown murals inside, it has wall-to-wall Persian carpeting. A box in the fenced-off area upstairs contains hairs of beard of Prophet Mohammed, shown to public only on 27th day of the month Ramadan.
At the entrance is a twin domed building, holding the tombs of Al Jazzar (†1804) and his adopted son and successor Suleiman Pasha (†1819).
