A policeman reacts during a clash with protestors during a protest against the proposed changes to France's working week and layoff practices, in Lyon, central France, Thursday, April 28, 2016. French protesters are back on the streets over proposed reforms to the country's labor rules and strikers have forced cancellations and delays at two airports serving Paris. (Photo by Laurent Cipriani/AP Photo)

An Embraer E-190 E2 aircraft featuring a spray painted tiger's face on the nose of the aircraft is displayed during a media preview of the Singapore Airshow February 4, 2018. (Photo by Edgar Su/Reuters)

An employee works on the automobile assembly line of a Citroen C3 car at the PSA Peugeot Citroen plant in Poissy, near Paris, France, April 29, 2015. PSA Peugeot Citroen said on Wednesday its revenue rose in the first quarter as the recovering French carmaker's efforts to raise prices helped offset weaker volumes. (Photo by Benoit Tessier/Reuters)

An artist draws a mural on a wall during a wall painting competition in Amritsar on February 25, 2023. (Photo by Narinder Nanu/AFP Photo)

Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus takes a selfie with fans after winning against Madison Keys of the United States during their women's singles match of the China Open tennis tournament, at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, Wednesday, October 2, 2024. (Photo by Achmad Ibrahim/AP Photo)

A Mai-Mai rebel soldier shows off his guns at a checkpoint near the Mugunga refugee camp in Zaire; 1996. (Photo by Carol Guzy/The Washington Post)

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.

English journalist and newsreader Lucy Watson attends the “Charlie's Angels” UK Premiere at The Curzon Mayfair on November 20, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)