A man admires a sculpture in the series entitled 'Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads' by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei in the courtyard of Somerset House on May 11, 2011 in London, England. The installation comprises of 12 bronze heads of animals which feature in the Chinese zodiac. The artist Ai Weiwei, who is outspoken in his criticism of the Chinese administration, was detained by authorities in Beijing on April 3, 2011 and his whereabouts remain unknown.

Festival goers run toward the main stage to catch the beginning of Kendrick Lamar's set during the first weekend of Coachella 2012, on April 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Music fans attend Day 1 of the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival 2011 held at the Empire Polo Club on April 15, 2011 in Indio, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

Fyn Baily aged eight at the Bloodstock festival on August 13, 2011 in Walton-on-Trent, United Kingdom. Bloodstock is the UK's largest heavy metal festival and features both established and unsigned bands over four days. (Photo by Bethany Clarke/Getty Images)

Fifth Harmony accept the most buzzworthy international artist or group award during the iHeartRadio Much Music Video Awards (MMVAs) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada June 19, 2016. (Photo by Fred Thornhill/Reuters)

Model Kendall Jenner arrives at the 42nd American Music Awards in Los Angeles, California November 23, 2014. (Photo by Danny Moloshok/Reuters)

Dani (L) and Bella Thorne arrive at the 2016 American Music Awards in Los Angeles, California, U.S., November 20, 2016. (Photo by Danny Moloshok/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.