Playboy founder Hugh Hefner (not pictured) arrives at Stansted Airport on June 2, 2011 in Stansted, England. The photograph is a recreation of a picture originally taken in the 1960's, with ten of the new London Bunnies. Mr Hefner is back in the UK to mark the launch of the new Playboy Club in Mayfair, which opens on June 4. The clubs opening will welcome back the iconic Playboy Bunny to Londonafter a 30 year absence. Famous Bunnies have included Debbie Harry and Lauren Hutton. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

This photo was caught on camera by amateur photographer Kutub Uddin, 27, and was taken in his back garden in Bognor Regis, West Sussex. The red-eyed tree frogs have been Mr Uddin's pets for four months and he often lets them out to roam around his garden. Photo: “Ohh no :( Raining”. (Photo by Kutub Uddin)

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.

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.

Alice Cooke at the Sydney Women’s Reformatory in 1922. By the time she was 24 Alice Cooke had created an impressive number of aliases and at least two husbands, and was convicted of bigamy and theft. (Photo by My Colorful Past/Mediadrumworld)

American actress Sarah Hyland at arrivals for 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards – Part 2, Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA January 19, 2020. (Photo by Monica Almeida/Reuters)

Belle Hassan is seen attending Lipstick and Champagne – party at STK on August 29, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Jamie Lorriman/The Sun)

Actress Frederique Bel attends the Opening ceremony and the “Grace of Monaco” Premiere during the 67th Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2014 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)