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.

Members of Brighton Swimming Club brave the early morning temperature to take a dip in the sea east of the pier on January 5, 2022. The club, founded in 1860, is the oldest in England. (Photo by Simon Dack/Alamy Live News)

The endangered kea is the world’s only alpine parrot, and one of the most intelligent birds. They show no fear of humans and are thieves and pranksters. The parrot is seen in the Whakaari conservation area, near Glen Orchy in the Otago region of New Zealand, a place where historic huts and mining relics are surrounded by stunning mountains covered in tussock. (Photo by Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian)

Japanese sеx doll exhibition attracts hundreds of mannequin-fetishists to celebrate 40 years of the X-rated love bots in Tokyo, Japan on May 19, 2017. These silicon seductresses were the star of an extraordinary exhibition in Japan showcasing sеx dolls that cost as little as a second hand car. Japanese sеx doll maker Orient Industry (originally Orient made dolls for disabled people) were laying bare their dazzling bevvy of beauties in an extravaganza to mark its 40th anniversary this week. Here: Orient industry prides itself on its detail with two looking extremely real as they sit flirtatiously on a couch. (Photo by Masatoshi Okauchi/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

An owl curiously peeks out from a tree hollow. The pictures of the spotted owlet were taken by Anuj Jain in Chandigarh, India in the second decade of November 2025. (Photo by Anuj Jain/Solent News & Photo Agency)

A Vietnamese bride is seen pushing the groom on a scooter during a photo shoot for their wedding in An Bang Beach outside Hoi An in Vietnam December 11, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Believers bathe in the icy water during a traditional Epiphany at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Ostankino near TV Tower in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, January 18, 2023. Across Russia, the devout and the daring are observing the Orthodox Christian feast day of Epiphany by immersing themselves in frigid water through holes cut through the ice of lakes and rivers. Epiphany celebrates the revelation of Jesus Christ as the incarnation of God through his baptism in the River Jordan. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)