A chef cooks raw dog meat at a restaurant on July 5, 2005 in Gwacheon, South Korea. Dog meat is a traditional dish in Korea dating back to the Samkuk period (period of the three kingdoms BC 57 – AD 668). Although many recipes existed historically for dog meat, now chefs only make soups, or dishes using boiled or roasted meat. Koreans traditionally eat dog meat on the hottest day of the summer, for it's reputed benefits of virility, invigoration and health. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

Festival-goers take a bath in a mud pool during the 20th Boryeong Mud Festival on Daecheon beach in Boryeong City, some 190 kilometers west of Seoul, South Korea, 22 July 2017. Tourists flock to the area to experience the beneficial properties of the Boryeong mud, as well as for a variety of entertainment events. The festival runs from 21 until 30 July. (Photo by Jeon Heon-Kyun/EPA/EFE)

A model wears a creation for the Louis Vuitton Pre-Fall 2023 show in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, April 29, 2023. (Photo by Lee Jin-man/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.

A female street art collective has set a new Guinness World Record to create the largest spray-painted mural by multiple artists. Over 100 international female street artists came together to create the continuous mural in south London’s Leake Street Tunnel, made famous by Banksy, on March 8, 2014. The record was broken as part of all-female street art event Femme Fierce, the largest of its kind in the UK, which aims to celebrate women street artists across the world. Photo: Zabou's witty graffiti. (Photo by Dez Mighty/Susan Mackey)

Female North Korean soldiers patrol along the banks of Yalu River, near the North Korean town of Sinuiju, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong, April 11, 2013. South Korea and the United States were on high alert for a North Korean missile launch on Thursday as the hermit kingdom turned its attention to celebrating its ruling Kim dynasty and appeared to tone down rhetoric of impending war. (Photo by Jacky Chen/Reuters)

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A newly-married couple takes a nap before their mass wedding ceremony at the CheongShim Peace World Center in Gapyeong, South Korea, Sunday, February 17, 2013. Some 3,500 South Korean and foreign couples exchanged or reaffirmed marriage vows in the Unification Church's mass wedding arranged by Hak Ja Han Moon, a wife of the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the controversial founder of the Unification Church. (Photo by Lee Jin-man/AP Photo)

A participant takes photographs of his friend while climbing up the stairs during Sky Run, a vertical marathon event, held in the 123-story Lotte World Tower, in Seoul, South Korea on April 22, 2023. (Photo by Kim Soo-hyeon/Reuters)