In October 1347, ships that brought traders from Caffa docked at the port of Messina in Sicily. The traders brought with them a fierce plague that swept through Europe from 1348 to 1352. This pandemic killed approximately half of Europe’s population was known as the Black Death. The spread of the plague affected the art and the Paintings by the artists portrayed images of death, tortured souls, fire and brimstone.
The city was renamed Istanbul and would become once again one of the world's most important cities, this time as the capital of the Ottoman Empire, with many of its churches being converted to mosques.
