Men slicing blubber off a large, dead whale. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images). Circa 1912

A street artist dances tango in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, January 20, 2015. Tango is a partner dance that originated in the 1890's along the Rio de la Plata, the border between Uruguay and Argentina. UNESCO approved in 2009, a joint proposal by the two nations to include the dance in its Intangible Cultural Heritage List. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

Lily Donaldson attends the “Loveless (Nelyubov)” screening during the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 18, 2017 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Tristan Fewings/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.

(L-R) Ozzy Osbourne and son, producer Jack Osbourne visit the Tribeca Film Festival 2011 portrait studio on April 25, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)

Israeli soldiers detain a protester during a demonstration by Palestinians protesting against the Israeli-built West Bank separation barrier and calling for the right of return for Palestinian refugees, in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, on May 31, 2014. (AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh)

A 22-year-old woman in a wedding gown is grabbed by Guo Zhongfan, a local community officer, as she attempts to kill herself by jumping out of a seven-storey residential building in Changchun, Jilin province. According to local media, the woman tried to commit suicide after her boyfriend of four years broke up with her, just as they were making plans to get married. The woman did not sustain any injuries during the incident. (Photo by China Daily/Reuters)

“NASA's Mars rover Opportunity just celebrated its ninth anniversary on Mars – a mission that was originally meant to last just 90 days...” – The Atlantic. Photo: NASA's rover Opportunity visits Victoria Crater, viewed from orbit by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in october of 2006. Opportunity is a small dot on the crater's lip, at top right. Opportunity first reached the crater's rim on September 27, 2006. (Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona via The Atlantic)