“Pantsir-S1 (NATO reporting name SA-22 Greyhound) is a combined short to medium range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery weapon system produced by KBP of Tula, Russia. The system is a further development of SA-19/SA-N-11 and represents the latest air defence technology by using phased-array radars for both target acquisition and tracking”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Test of the surface-to-air missile Pantsir-S rocket and gun system in the conditions of the Polar region on the range “Pemba” near Vorkuta, approximately on October 20 2012. According to the statement of military, during doctrines five cruise missiles from five were destroyed. (Photo by Alexey Reznichenko)

“Miniatur Wunderland is a model railway attraction in Hamburg, Germany and the largest of its kind in the world. As of January 2011, the railway consists of 12,000 metres (39,370 ft) of track in HO scale, divided into seven sections: Harz, the fictitious city of Knuffingen, the Alps and Austria, Hamburg, America, Scandinavia, and Switzerland. Of the 6,400 square metres (68,889 sq ft) of floorspace, the model takes 1,150 m2 (12,378 sq ft)”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Details of the “Miniatur Wunderland” are pictured on April 2, 2009 in Hamburg, Germany. The world's largest model railway and one of the most popular tourist attractions in Germany is located next to the Elbe in Hamburg's Speicherstadt. (Photo by Joern Pollex/Getty Images)

An arctic tern feeds its chick on the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast, northern England July 8, 2013. The Farne Islands, which lie off the coast of northeast England, are home to a huge array of wildlife. The islands are owned and protected by the British conservation charity, the National Trust, which says they host some 23 species of seabird, as well as a substantial colony of grey seals, who come to have their pups there in the autumn. Every five years the National Trust carries out a census of the islands' population of puffins, and this year's survey showed there were almost 40,000 nesting pairs on the islands – an 8 percent rise from 2008. (Photo by Nigel Roddis/Reuters)

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.

Playful seals. The pair of playful seals swim around each other. Two passionate seals were captured on camera in a tender embrace by underwater photographer Robert Bailey, 50, near the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast, UK. (Photo by Robert Bailey/Medavia)

The damaged battleship USS California, listing to port after being hit by Japanese aerial torpedoes and bombs, is seen off Ford Island during the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, U.S. December 7, 1941. The 75th anniversary of the attack, which brought the United States into World War Two, is marked on December 7, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/U.S. Navy/National Archives)

A Hawaiian cleaner wrasse provides its cleaning services to a yellowfin goatfish in a reef community off the Big Island in Hawaii. Cleaner species help rid their hosts of ectoparasites, dead tissue, bacteria and fungi. Studies have shown cleaning to play a vital role in keeping many reef ecosystems healthy. (Photo by Marty Snyderman/Caters News Agency)

Rescue workers stand next to TK Bremen cargo ship which ran aground during a powerful storm, spilling oil off the coast of France's northwestern region of Brittany as it lies stranded on Kerminihy beach in Erdeven, on December 16, 2011. (Photo by Damien Meyer/AFP Photo)