People travel by tube on the London Underground to take part in the Pride in London parade, London, Saturday, July 1, 2023. (Photo by Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire via 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.

Dan Copeland, left, and Alex Morneau of Biddeford, Maine, former high school cheerleaders, perform back flips while enjoying the record breaking heat, Thursday, May 18, 2017, at Old Orchard Beach, Maine. The temperature climbed well into the 90s in many locations throughout the state. (Photo by Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo)

An American white pelican takes flight on the island of Petatan in the municipality of Cojumatlan de Regules, Michoacan state, Mexico on February 23, 2024. The island becomes home to the pelicans during the winter, when they travel from the north of the United States and the south of Canada to the warmer waters of Lake Chapala in Mexico. The birds are a tourist attraction and people gather on the island's boardwalk to feed them and watch them fly. (Photo by Enrique Castro/AFP Photo)

A festival-goer sings at Rock in Rio music festival while Brazilian rappers Veigh and Kayblack perform in Rio de Janeiro, Friday, September 13, 2024. (Photo by Hannah-Kathryn Valles/AP Photo)

Jaison Vargas, crocodile tour guide, takes a picture of an American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) during a tour at the Tarcoles river, in Tarcoles, Garabito municipality, Costa Rica, on March 31, 2022. Crocodile tours in the estuary of the Tarcoles River are a popular attraction for visitors to Costa Rica's Pacific coast, as the area gets back on its feet after being shaken by the pandemic. The river is home to nearly 500 species of birds and some 2,000 American crocodiles, many of which have been named after famous people. (Photo by Luis Acosta/AFP Photo)

A member of Viradouro samba school performs during the first night of Rio's Carnival parade at the Sambadrome Marques de Sapucai in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on April 22, 2022. (Photo by Carl de Souza/AFP Photo)

A chimpanzee in the Osnabrück Zoo in Lower Saxony makes contact with a small zoo visitor sitting in front of a pane on September 1, 2020. The two males Lobo and Lome moved from Leipzig Zoo to Osnabrück Zoo to strengthen the social structure of the existing group. (Photo by Friso Gentsch/dpa)