A dog swims as a resident navigates his boat in a neighbourhood flooded by the Purus river, which continues to rise from days of heavy rainfall in the region, in Boca do Acre, Amazonas state March 14, 2015. According the state civil defense, more than 20,000 people have been left homeless along the Purus river, where incessant rains have flooded the area and caused the river to burst their banks. (Photo by Bruno Kelly/Reuters)

Members of the Uniao da Ilha do Governador Samba School perform during the first day of the Special Group Samba Schools parade of Carnival at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 07 February 2016. (Photo by Luiz Eduardo Perez/EPA)

Brazilians in favor of the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff demonstrate as the Lower House of Congress voted over her impeachment in Brasilia, Brazil April 17, 2016. The sign reads, “The people want justice. Prison for the corrupt”. (Photo by Adriano Machado/Reuters)

A performer dances during Salgueiro performance at the Rio de Janeiro Carnival at Sambodromo on February 26, 2017 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Raphael Dias/Getty Images)

A resident walks on a makeshift walkway above a flooded street from the rising Rio Solimoes, one of the two main branches of the Amazon River, in Careiro da Varzea of Amazonas State, Brazil, June 30, 2015. According to the state Civil Defense, more than 460,000 people were affected by strong rains in the state. (Photo by Bruno Kelly/Reuters)

A military police officer aims his gun to a demonstrator during a protest in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, April 7, 2015. The officer had picked up a bottle that was thrown towards them but did not fire his gun and backed away. Thousands of workers have staged rallies in 12 cities across Brazil to protest against a proposed law that would allow companies to outsource their labor force. (Photo by Eraldo Peres/AP Photo)

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.

Prints of R$ 50 Brazilian reais bills sit on a table for inspection at at the Casa da Moeda, the national mint, in the Santa Cruz suburb of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Tuesday, March 5, 2013. Brazil is likely to keep its key interest rate at a record low for the third straight meeting, as policy makers are caught between a fragile economic recovery and faster-than-expected inflation. (Photo by Dado Galdieri/Bloomberg)