Asia Sawicka as Anastasia IV poses for a photograph prior to a rehearsal of the Circus of Horrors' latest show Voodoo, ahead of Halloween, at the Wookey Hole Caves Theatre near Wells on October 19, 2017 in Somerset, England. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Alex Sun, left, Peter Simplicio and Matt Connelly jump through a hole in the ice into Lake Andrews on the Bates College campus, Friday, February 9, 2024, in Lewiston, Maine. The annual Bates College Puddle jump started 50 years ago as a Winter Carnival tradition. (Photo by Andree Kehn/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.

Since Rodrigo Duterte became president last year, his brutal campaign against drugs has claimed thousands of lives. Human rights groups say he is guilty of crimes against humanity, yet that is scant comfort to those mourning loved ones. Here: Constantino de Juan’s seven children sit on a sofa that still bears the bullet hole from their father’s shooting. Juan was preparing a spaghetti dinner on his daughter’s birthday when he was killed. (Photo by James Whitlow Delano/Funded by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting/The Guardian)

“Sidney D. Gamble (July 12, 1890 – 1968) was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to David Berry and Mary Huggins Gamble; grandson of James Gamble, who, with William Procter, founded Procter & Gamble in 1837. in 1912 he graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Literature degree and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He visited China for four extended periods, 1908, 1917–1919, 1924–27, and 1931–1932, doing Christian social work for the Y.M.C.A and conducting social surveys. He is now best known for his remarkable and extensive photographs of Peking and North China.” – Wikipedia. (Photo by Sidney David Gamble via Duke University Libraries)

Photo: Hillcoat Riding Fu Tu. China, An Xian, 1917-1919. P.S. All photos are available in high resolution.

An old woman looks from inside a car with bullet holes and shattered windows as she flees fighting in the eastern Ukrainian town of Slaviansk June 9, 2014. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich.

Hvítserkur is 15 meters high cliff and protrudes out of the sea. The sea erosion has carved holes through its foundations and sculptured it in the unique shape it is today. Some say it is in the shape of a petrified monster.

Wang Yue, a senior at Dalian Industry University, uses her paintbrush to turn ugly tree holes into lovely views in Shijiazhuang, capital city of Hebei Province.