A “Free Syrian Army” fighter in the Bustan Pasha neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, August 21, 2013. (Photo by James Lawler Duggan)

A Chimpanzee opens its Christmas presents at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo on December 17, 2013 in Bedfordshire, England. (Photo by Tony Margiocchi/Barcroft Media)

Jesse Tyler Ferguson photobombs Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom at the 2013 Vanity Fair Oscar party. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic)

A general view of Hong Kong's business district is seen Thursday, August 1, 2013. (Photo by Vincent Yu/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.

Cars at a car dealership are seen in the flooded village of Fischerdorf, near Deggendorf June 7, 2013. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle

A model poses backstage during the International Flamenco Fashion Show in Seville, Spain, on February 2, 2013. (Photo by Associated Press/Miguel Angel Morenatti)

Anime fans visited the Hyatt Regency Milwaukee on the weekend of February 15-17 for Anime Milwaukee 2013. (Photo by Pat A. Robinson)