A “creuseur”, or digger, a plastic lantern on his head, readies to enter a copper and cobalt mine in Kawama, Democratic Republic of Congo on June 8, 2016. Cobalt is used in the batteries for electric cars and mobile phones. Working conditions are dangerous, often with no safety equipment or structural support for the tunnels. The diggers say they are paid on average US$2-3/day. (Photo by Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post)

“Ashes and Snow by Canadian artist Gregory Colbert is an installation of photographic artworks, films, and a novel in letters that travels in the Nomadic Museum, a temporary structure built exclusively to house the exhibition. The work explores the shared poetic sensibilities of human beings and animals”. – Wikipedia. (Photo by Gregory Colbert)

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 London 2012 ArcelorMittal Orbit Sculpture at the Olympic park nears completion on November 4, 2011 in London, England. The Ј22 million sculpture designed by Anish Kapoor is nearly complete. Standing at 115 meters tall the permanent structure is Britain's largest artwork and houses an observation deck near the top. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

The Brooklyn Bridge is seen after a crane pulled by a tug boat on the East River slammed into scaffolding beneath the Bridge on March 13, 2012 in New York, NY. According to reports, no damage was done to the structure of the bridge. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)

Masakatsu Sashie is a Japanese painter, born in 1974 in Kanazawa. His paintings of spherical structures floating above rubble on the streets, envision a future where environmental disasters have made the cities depicted uninhabitable. While he has been painting since 1999, his work caught more national intention in 2005 at the Geisai art show.

Sixty four year old Hollywood movie stuntman Rock Taylor drives through a huge sheet of glass at the 02 Arena on September 13, 2011 in London, England. The stunt was performed in an attempt to break a previous Guinness record to “break through the Largest breakaway glass structure in a car”. The stunt was to mark “Remember a Charity” week, which aims to encourage more people to leave gifts to charity in their will. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

In this handout image provided by NASA, the space shuttle Endeavour is seen on launch pad 39a as a storm passes by prior to the rollback of the Rotating Service Structure (RSS) April 28, 2011, at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. During the 14-day mission, Endeavour and the STS-134 crew will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) and spare parts, including two S-band communications antennas, a high-pressure gas tank and additional spare parts for Dextre. Launch is targeted for April 29 at 3:47 p.m. EDT.