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.

A model wears a creation as part of the Dolce & Gabbana women's Fall-Winter 2023-24 collection presented in Milan, Italy, Saturday, February 25, 2023. (Photo by Antonio Calanni/AP Photo)

Kimono-clad young women take their selfies near a venue during the Coming of Age Day celebration ceremony in Yokohama, Japan on January 9, 2023. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka poses with the 2023 Australian Open winner's trophy in Royal Botanic Garden in Melbourne on January 29, 2023, following her victory over Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina in the women's singles final of the tennis tournament. (Photo by Carl Recine/Reuters)

Revellers are sprayed by a water cannon during a street party called “Bloco Das Barbas” in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on February 18, 2023. Hundreds of street parties traditionally take place every year in the city before and during Rio de Janeiro's carnival. (Photo by Carl de Souza/AFP Photo)

A supporter of the Iranian women life freedom movement takes part in a demonstration, during the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, Germany on February 18, 2023. (Photo by Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)

This undated handout image courtesy of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance shows “Pat”, a Pacific pocket mouse fondly named after actor Sir Patrick Stewart. A mouse named after “Star Trek” actor Patrick Stewart is officially the world's oldest in captivity, a US zoo has announced Pat the Pacific Pocket Mouse – the smallest species of mouse in North America – bagged the title when he hit nine years and 209 days old on February 8, 2023. (Photo by Ken Bohn/San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance via AFP Photo)

Escorts of city prince Stefan I on their way to the key transfer for carnival in Maastricht, Netherlands on February 18, 2023. City prince Stefan I symbolically gains power over the city for three days. (Photo by Hollandse Hoogte/Rex Features/Shutterstock)