These otherworldly images give a rare glimpse inside caves barely ever seen by the human eye. With its peculiar pools of water and strange colored sediments, the bizarre looking tunnels of the Shakuranskaya cave could be a set straight out of a science fiction film. Found in the disputed region of Abkhazia, around 75 miles outside of Sochi, Russia, it is rumored the incredible underground chambers were formed after a huge earthquake struck the area in 1892. After causing part of a nearby mountain to collapse into the Amtkel River, it is thought the dam-like affect has created a series of interconnecting underground tunnels. Here: a large pool of water inside one of the tunnels. (Photo by Vladimir Mulde/Caters News)

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)

A man splashes in a puddle in Times Square during a heavy midday downpour in New York City, U.S., July 17, 2018. (Photo by Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

In northwest Russia, in a small village called Alekhovshchina, Nadia Sablin's aunts spend the warmer months together in the family home and live as the family has always lived, chopping wood to heat the house and making their own clothes. Sablin's book of photographs, “Aunties: The Seven Summers of Alevtina and Ludmila”, is published by Duke University Press. Here: “Two-Handed Saw, 2014”. (Photo by Nadia Sablin)

A Sikh warrior, wearing a huge turban attends the annual fair of “Hola Mohalla” in Anandpur Sahib, in the northern Indian state of Punjab, Monday, March 17, 2014. Believers from various parts of northern India collect at the religious fair to celebrate the festival of Holi in a tradition set by the tenth Sikh guru Guru Gobind Singh in the seventeenth century. Nihangs, or Sikh warriors, display their martial skills and attire during the fair, believed to be maintained in the exact tradition as set by the Guru. (Photo by Altaf Qadri/AP Photo)

Irish television personality and presenter Maura Higgins showed off her platinum hairdo on April 18, 2022 at the annual music and arts festival Coachella festival held at the Empire Polo Club in California. (Photo by Instagram)