The Red Arrows make a flypast during the Trooping The Colour parade at Buckingham Palace, in London, Saturday, June 13, 2015. Hundreds of soldiers in ceremonial dress have marched in London in the annual Trooping the Color parade to mark the official birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. The Trooping the Color tradition originates from preparations for battle, when flags were carried or "trooped" down the rank for soldiers to see. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland)

Amal Clooney attends the “Money Monster” premiere during the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival at the Palais des Festivals on May 12, 2016 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

As the sun rises, Gentoo penguins start their day on Wednesday, February 17, 2016, on Sea Lion Island, Falkland Islands. Sea Lion Island, which lies about 10 miles to the south of mainland East Falkland, is the southern most human-inhabited island of the more than 750 islands and islets of the Falkland Islands. (Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

Art photography gallery Lumas has opened its doors to “Masterpieces of Fashion Photography” exhibition at its London flagship space, showcasing previously unreleased images by legends such as Horst P. Horst, Edward Steichen, Bert Stern and Arthur Elgort. Here: Darryl Hannah on elephant, 1992. (Photo by Michel Comte/Vogue Archive Collection)

Indian wrestlers Rashid Anwar (left) and Ajaib Singh in a training bout at Lane's Club in Baker Street London before the Empire Games, 19th July 1934. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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.

In this handout GOES satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Irene reaches hurricane strength as it moves across Puerto Rico towards Hispaniola August 22, 2011 in the Caribbean Sea. Irene, the first hurricane of the Atlantic storm season, brought torrential rains and winds to Puerto Rico, downing trees and powerlines and flooding streets. The expected path will bring Irene through the Bahamas and is likely to hit Florida and up the east coast of the U.S. (Photo by NOAA via Getty Images)

The Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft carrying the International Space Station (ISS) expedition 64 crew of NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov blasts off to the ISS from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on October 14, 2020. (Photo by Roscosmos/Handout via AFP Photo)