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 original costumes for Star Wars character Darth Vader stand on display at “Star Wars: The Exhibition” at County hall on May 04, 2007 in London, England. (Photo by MJ Kim/Getty Images)

Sellers sort persimmons for sale at a wholesale market in Hanoi, Vietnam October 3, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/Kham)

An African migrant stranded in Costa Rica bathes at a makeshift camp at the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, in Penas Blancas, Costa Rica, July 14, 2016. Thousands of African migrants are currently stranded in Costa Rica after they were denied entry into neighbouring Nicaragua, which they have been using as a crossing point in order to reach the United States. According to the Costa Rican Red Cross, most of these people from Africa, Asia and Haiti. It has been reported that many of them paid smugglers to reach Central America. However, when they arrived at the border gates, they were denied entry and were left with nowhere to go. (Photo by Juan Carlos Ulate/Reuters)

A model presents a creation from Dior's Cruise 2021 collection during a live-streamed runway show without an audience due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at the Piazza del Duomo, in Lecce, Italy on July 22, 2020. Christian Dior hosted a live but audience-free fashion show in the Italian city of Lecce, in a dazzling celebration of local crafts and traditions that included a dance spectacle in the middle of the baroque main square. (Photo by Alessandro Garofalo/Reuters)

Ant Burgess practices his freestyle on a jet ski at Blyth beach in Northumberland, on the North East coast on Saturday, April 10, 2021. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images)

Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders perform before the game against the New England Patriots in Arlington, Texas on October 1, 2023. (Photo by Kevin Jairaj/USA Today Sports)

A person shields themself from snowfall as they walk to a taxi in Midtown Manhattan, New York City on January 6, 2024. Forecasters warned on January 5 that a deluge of snow and wintery conditions could bring travel chaos to the US northeast this weekend, with some 25 million people subject to a storm warning. (Photo by Adam Gray/AFP Photo)