A man walks towards a wave breaking on a rock pool at North Narrabeen Beach in Sydney on April 18, 2025, as large swells hit the east coast of Australia. (Photo by David Gray/AFP 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 northern lights, or aurora borealis, appear in the sky over the Bamburgh lighthouse at Stag Rock in Northumberland, England on September 28, 2016. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Wire via ZUMA Press)

A protester jumps on the table in front of the European Central Bank President Mario Draghi during a news conference in Frankfurt, Germany April 15, 2015. (Photo by Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)

A man jokingly poses with a new installation of British graffiti artist Banksy's art in New York, October 20, 2013. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

This photo provided by Steamboat Ski Resort shows hot air balloons that visitors can tour in above the town and mountains in Steamboat Springs, Colo. Wild West Adventures offer continental breakfast, champagne ceremony with flight certificates and courtesy pick-up are included. (Photo by Larry Pierce/AP Photo/Steamboat Ski Resort)

Participants pose as they take part in a bodybuilding and fitness event named “China Fit”, in Beijing, China, June 15, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Britain Football Soccer, Burnley vs Swansea City, Premier League, Turf Moor on August 13, 2016. Burnley fan with face paint outside the stadium before the match. (Photo by Ed Sykes/Reuters/Action Images/Livepic)