In this April 20, 2017 photo, a woman is aided by fellow demonstrators after falling, overcome by tear gas, during anti-government protests in Caracas, Venezuela. Tens of thousands of protesters asking for the resignation of President Nicolas Maduro flooded the streets again, one day after three people were killed and hundreds arrested in the biggest anti-government demonstrations in years. (Photo by Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo)

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.

The main church in the town of San Damian Texoloc, Mexico stands in front of the Popocatepetl volcano as is spews ash and vapor early Tuesday, July 9, 2013. Last Saturday, Mexico's National Center for Disaster Prevention raised the volcano alert from Stage 2 Yellow to Stage 3 Yellow, the final step before a Red alert, when possible evacuations could be ordered after the Popocatepetl volcano spit out a cloud of ash and vapor 2 miles (3 kilometers) high over several days of eruptions. (Photo by J. Guadalupe Perez/AP Photo)

Canada's Mandy Marchak (R) is taken down by France's Pauline Biscarat during the final match of the Hong Kong Sevens rugby women's invitational cup in Hong Kong March 28, 2014. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

A young anoa, also known as midget buffalo, named Tycoon runs around at the Zoo in Berlin, Germany, on November 9, 2012. (Photo by Maurizio Gambarini/EPA)

A woman poses for a photo in a vehicle parked on the street as a tourist attraction, in Bangkok, Thailand on July 29, 2019. (Photo by Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)

Afghan wrestlers compete in a bout of traditional mud wrestling competition during the Friday weekend at a field in Chaman-e- Huzuri ground in Kabul on October 21, 2022. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar/AFP Photo)

A visitor checks automatic gun during International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) 2022 at the Expo Centre in Karachi on November 16, 2022. (Photo by Rizwan Tabassum/AFP Photo)