History enthusiasts of French association “Arquebusiers de l'Est”, dressed as soldiers of 3rd regiment of Zouave, attend an Armistice Day ceremony to commemorate the end of World War One at Epernay, eastern France, November 11, 2014. More than a hundred volunteers from France, Romania, England, Belgium, Russia and Italy took part in the parade. The year 2014 marks the centennial commemoration for the soldiers who fought in the First World War (WWI). (Photo by Charles Platiau/Reuters)

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.

Military helicopters fly in formation above a billboard with a picture of China's late Chairman Mao Zedong during a training session for the upcoming parade marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two, on the outskirts of Beijing, July 2, 2015. Troops from Russia and Mongolia will march together with Chinese forces in a parade in Beijing in September to commemorate the end of World War Two, the government and state media said on Thursday, confirming the first two foreign participants. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)

Elephants spray villagers with water in celebration of the Songkran water festival in Thailand's Ayutthaya province, north of Bangkok, April 10, 2015. The annual elephant Songkran is held to promote the tourism industry prior the Songkran Festival which is celebrated with splashing water and putting powder on each others faces as a symbolic sign of cleansing and washing away the sins from the old year. (Photo by Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters)

Francisca Gomez stands at an entrance to her home, a cave where she has been living for the past 50 years, in the mountains on the outskirts of Chusmuy, Honduras April 21, 2015. The 75-year old widow receives help from neighbors and friends and she makes a little money by selling wood she collects, according to a local newspaper. (Photo by Jorge Cabrera/Reuters)

Mah Chan, a Long Neck Padaung hill tribe woman weaves a scraf for sale to tourists in a small village where 30 familes live July 13, 2006 in Chiang Dao, Thailand. All the Long Neck villages are set up for tourists and just over a year ago the hill tribe members were hand picked to move closer to Chiang Mai from more remote communities so that they could be more accessible. The Padaung women famously wear brass rings around their necks, beginning at five-years-old, to distort the growth of their collarbones and making them look like they have long necks. They are originally from eastern Burma near the Thailand border. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

In this photo distributed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) May 23, 2005, woman soldiers wear branches in their helmets as their infantry instructors' course learns about camouflage during the field craft week of their training May 19, 2005 at an army base near Beersheva in Israel's southern desert. It takes the IDF more than 2 months to teach these 18-year-old female recruits the basic arts of warfare before they assigned to pass on their newly-acquired skills to the army's male and female draftees. (Photo by Abir Sultan/IDF via Getty Images)

Men help remove messages and prayers written by thousands of people addressed to God from the cracks in the Western Wall in preparation for the up coming Jewish Passover holiday on March 28, 2012 in Jerusalem's old city, Israel. All the notes once collected will be buried in a special place at the Mount of Olives.according tro Jewish law. Passover begins in the evening of Friday, April 6 and commemorates the story of the Exodus where the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt. (Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)