Swans from the state Ballet of Georgia production of Swan Lake arrive in London on August 27, 2024 ahead of opening night at London Coliseum venue on 28th August. (Photo by Guy Corbishley/Alamy Live News)

In this image released on December 09, English model Leomie Anderson and English model and actress Jourdan Dunn attend the 2020 MOBO Awards held at Exhibition London on December 07, 2020 in London, England. The MOBO Awards will be live-streamed on YouTube at 7pm and broadcast on BBC One at 10.45pm. (Photo by Michael Tubes/MOBO Organisation/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

(L-R) Heidi Klum and Alessandra Ambrosio attend the 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 09, 2020 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/VF20/WireImage)

Milan Fashion Week Women SS 2020 – ETRO Spring/Summer 2020 show in Milan, Italy on September 20, 2019. Top model Irina Shayk and other models leaving Etro Fashion Show. (Photo by Pierre Teyssot/Splash News and Pictures)

Thai officials arrive for morning alms as part of celebrations for the 68th birthday of Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindrade​bayavarangkun, at Sanam Luang in Bangkok, Thailand, 28 July 2020. (Photo by Diego Azubel/EPA/EFE)

Photo taken on September 19, 2015 shows a baby Brazilian opossum at the “Parque Estoril” zoo in Sao Bernardo do Campo of Sao Paulo, Brazil. According to local press, the “Parque Estoril” zoo houses currently 23 orphan cubs of wild animals rescued in the south region of Sao Paulo, victims of illegal wildlife trade or problems caused by urban growth. According to the zoo, all the animals arrived in the last three months, and many of them, not being able to be reintroduced to their natural habitat, will be used as examples in environmental education classes. (Photo by Rahel Patrasso/Xinhua via ZUMA Wire)

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.

Organizers of an exhibition of ancient instruments of torture in Huai'an, Jiangsu province, have suggested that children, heart disease patients and people with high blood pressure stay away because of the vivid depictions of shocking cruelty. The exhibition has more than 200 instruments of torture on display in the 50,000-square-meter exhibition halls of a restored ancient building. Wax figures, along with sound and light techniques, are incorporated for scary effect. The local government said the exhibition is for tourists and historians to research ancient torture practices. (Photo by ChinaFotoPress)