While communism, collectivism, worms, dry rot and casual looting failed to destroy the majestic wooden churches of Russia, it may be ordinary neglect that finally does them in. Dwindled now to several hundred remaining examples, these glories of vernacular architecture lie scattered amid the vastness of the world’s largest country. Just over a decade ago, Richard Davies, a British architectural photographer, struck out on a mission to record the fragile and poetic structures. Austerely beautiful and haunting, “Wooden Churches: Traveling in the Russian North” (White Sea Publishing; $132) is the result. Covering thousands of miles, Mr. Davies described how he and the writer Matilda Moreton tracked down the survivors from among the thousands of onion-domed structures built after Prince Vladimir converted to Christianity in 988.

In northwest Russia, in a small village called Alekhovshchina, Nadia Sablin's aunts spend the warmer months together in the family home and live as the family has always lived, chopping wood to heat the house and making their own clothes. Sablin's book of photographs, “Aunties: The Seven Summers of Alevtina and Ludmila”, is published by Duke University Press. Here: “Two-Handed Saw, 2014”. (Photo by Nadia Sablin)

Monaco's Princess Charlotte Casiraghi arrives to attend a mass at the Saint Nicholas Cathedral during the celebrations marking Monaco's National Day, on November 19, 2016 in Monaco. (Photo by Valery Hache/Reuters)

Extras in the arena of the “Fete des Vignerons” (winegrowers' festival in French), during the last rehearsal in Vevey, Switzerland, 17 July 2019. Organized by the brotherhood of winegrowers, the event will celebrate winemaking from 18 July to 11 August. The arena has a capacity of 20,000 spectators and hosts a giant central LED floor of approximately 800 square meters. (Photo by Laurent Gilliéron/EPA/EFE)

A hiker walks in the Zillertal Alps during an autumn day near the village of Ginzling, Austria, October 15, 2019. (Photo by Lisi Niesner/Reuters)

A Goodwood official prepares to brave the rain on the opening day of the Glourious Goodwood, racing festivall at Goodwood Racecourse, Chichester, England on July 30, 2019. (Photo by David Hartley/PA Wire Press Association)

Women wearing kimono and protective masks make their way to Coming of Age Day celebration ceremony, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Tokyo, Japan, January 10, 2022. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

A protester in an Elmo mask dances during the Justice for George Floyd Philadelphia Protest on Saturday, May 30, 2020. Demonstrators took to the streets across the United States to protest the death of Floyd, a black man who was killed in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25. (Photo by Matt Rourke/AP Photo)