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.

Charles Manson plays up to the camera during a 1988 interview with reporter Geraldo Rivera at San Quentin prison in 1988. Authorities say Manson, cult leader and mastermind behind 1969 deaths of actress Sharon Tate and several others, died on Sunday, November 19, 2017. He was 83. (Photo by AP Photo)

Korean War veteran Jon Sun Rye, 83 years old, walks after she paid respect to former leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il at Mansu Hill in Pyongyang, North Korea, 15 April 2016. North Korea is marking the “Day of the Sun”, celebrating the day of birth of the country's founder, Kim Il-sung. The Day of the Sun is a national holiday. (Photo by Franck Robichon/EPA)

A woman greets a street artist at the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, northern Spain July 8, 2016. (Photo by Eloy Alonso/Reuters)

In a photo taken on October 7, 2020 a woman holds two dogs as she waits for a train in Suncheon. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)