A picture released by the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows Kim Jong-un convening an urgent operation meeting at 0:30 am on March 29, 2013 at an undisclosed location, in which he ordered strategic rocket forces to be on standby to strike US and South Korean targets at any time. (Photo by KCNA via EPA)

North Korean soldiers look at South Korea across the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), on December 22, 2011 in Panmunjom, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/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.

In this Friday, March 28, 2014 photo, singers of the Moranbong Band, Jong Su Hyang, foreground, and Pak Mi Kyong, left perform on their stage in Pyongyang, North Korea. Step aside, Sea of Blood Opera. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's favorite guitar-slinging, miniskirt-sporting girl group, the Moranbong Band, is back. And these ladies know how to shimmy. (Photo by Jon Chol Jin/AP Photo)

“MSC Fabiola is a container ship owned by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the largest such vessel ever to dock in North America. In March 2012 the ship shifted from its initial Asia-to-Europe service to begin trans-Pacific service. On March 19, 2012, Fabiola docked at the Port of Long Beach, breaking earlier records for the largest container ship at a US port, and at any North American port”. – Wikipedia

Photo: The container ship MSC Fabiola (R) is seen docked at the Port of Oakland on March 22, 2012, in Oakland, California. The MSC Fabiola is the largest container ship ever to dock at any seaport in North America with an overall length of nearly one quarter mile long. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Miss Ireland finalists pictured as they arrived at the official launch party for Miss Ireland 2022 in association with TanOrganic, at House, Dublin on July 6, 2022. The 37 finalists vying for the coveted Miss Ireland 2022 title were revealed at a sparkling white party for this, the 75th Diamond Jubilee of the competition. (Photo by Brian McEvoy/The Irish Times)

A couple of roving film fangirls have recreated some of their favorite TV and movie moments by traveling to the exact locations and capturing them using their iPad. Tiia Öhman and Satu Walden have travelled thousands of miles across North America and Ireland to recapture the magic of their best loved scenes. However, instead of featuring their movie heroes, the pair, from Cardiff, have replaced them with an iPad or a phone screen displaying the action. Here: a scene from the film Die Hard With A Vengeance, and its location in real life 72nd Street Subway, New York. (Photo by Tiia Öhman/Caters News)

Competitors gather backstage as they prepare to take part in the All Ireland Irish Dancing Championships on November 2, 2016 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The championships take place at the Waterfront Hall over the course of six days with winners qualifying for the World Irish Dancing Finals which will take place in Dublin next year. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)