People attend New York's Annual Village Halloween Parade dressed as soldiers from the United Nations in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., October 31, 2022. (Photo by Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

Snow surrounds one of the Anthony Gormley statues called Another Place at Crosby Beach Merseyside, United Kingdom on Friday, March 10, 2023. (Photo by Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images)

Spectators using virtual reality glasses at the “Los Ultimos Dias De Pompeia” Exhibition at Matadero on September 06, 2023 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Borja B. Hojas/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.

Miu Miu, a Chihuahua, poses at the pre-Westminster Fashion Show at Hotel Pennsylvania ahead of next week's Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on February 10, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Getty Images)

Emily Ratajkowski sun bathes at Paradise Cove in Malibu, CA on March 9, 2017. Emily showed off her stunning figure in a white bikini and large sunhat. She sipped beer as she relaxed with her boyfriend Jeff Magid. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

A person dressed as a pumpkin monster poses at the premiere of the film “Goosebumps”, in Los Angeles, California October 4, 2015. (Photo by Danny Moloshok/Reuters)

American media personality Kim Kardashian seen on February 17, 2019 in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Hollywood To You/Star Max/GC Images)