Thai military officers dressed in traditional orange monk robes arrive to attend their official ordination ceremony on July 13, 2011 at the Benchamabopit temple, also known as Marble temple, in Bangkok, Thailand. Eighty four of the military officers were ordinated into the Buddhist community over two days, taking leave of absence from their jobs in the Army for three months during the Buddhist lent period. July 16 will mark the first day of the yearly three-month retreat of Buddhist monks where they will practice meditation in temples and study dharma. (Photo by Paula Bronstein /Getty Images)

Three Chinese soldiers at the time of a civil war in China. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images). 1922

In this handout photo provided by the U.S. Navy, the USS Stout launches a Tomahawk missile in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn March 19, 2011. This was one of approximately 110 cruise missiles fired from U.S. and British ships and submarines targetting about 20 radar and anti-aircraft sites along Libya's Mediterranean coast.

Kalei Ferrin,3, holds a sign up in support of gay rights during the San Diego gay pride parade July 16, 2011 in San Diego, California. About 200 active-duty troops and veterans from every branch of the military participated for the first time in the march as the ban on the government policy on homosexuals serving in armed forces, or “Don't ask Don't Tell”, remains in flux in the justice system. (Photo by Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)

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.

“A topless women's rights activist hacked down a Christian cross in the Ukrainian capital Kiev with a chain saw on Friday in protest at the prosecution of the Russian feminist punk band, p*ssy Riot”. – Reuters. (Photo by FEMEN)

A rescue worker holds an injured boy after what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in Idlib city, Syria December 20, 2015. (Photo by Ammar Abdullah/Reuters)

In modern Russia there are no free elections, therefore the political elite is almost constant.

Photo: Valentina Matvienko, Mayor of St. Petersburg, attends the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on June 17, 2011 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Global business leaders have gathered in Russia for the three-day conference. (Photo by Alexander Aleshkin/Epsilon/Getty Images)