Miss France Iris Mittenaere (R) and Miss Haiti Raquel Pelissier hold hands before Mittenaere is announced winner of the 65th Miss Universe beauty pageant at the Mall of Asia Arena, in Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines January 30, 2017. (Photo by Erik De Castro/Reuters)

Emilia Pechinkova, a 24-years-old Bulgarian Pomak (Bulgarian speaking Muslims) bride poses for a photograph following the “gelina” or face painting ceremony carried out by female guests and relatives in preparation for her three-day wedding ceremony in the village of Draginovo, 100 kms southeast of Sofia on April 22, 2016. Bulgaria's Muslim population is one of the highest in the European Union. During the Communist regime religious rituals were not tolerated, and Muslims were forced to abandon wearing their traditional wedding outfits. Recently, more young Pomak women want to include traditional wedding customs that were forbidden during the regime, regardless of their secular lifestyles and the high cost of such a wedding. (Photo by Nikolay Doychinov/AFP Photo)

Colonel Roscoe Turner, the pilot of an American Boeing plane, showing his wife a model of the plane, at the airfield in Mildenhall. (Photo by R. Wesley/Fox Photos/Getty Images). 19th October 1934

A silicon rug in the form of Adolph Hitler on display during an exhibition by Israeli artist Boaz Arad, at the Center for Contemporary Art February 22, 2007 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Arad is an Israeli artist who is dealing with the Holocaust in a provocative way. He uses the Holocaust to discuss human evil and contemporary Israel, which he says is torn and crumbling. (Photo by David Silverman/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.

Elementary school children play outside their classrooms as mount Sinabung volcano spews thick volcanic ash in the background on February 10, 2017 in Karo, Indonesia. Mount Sinabung is one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia and last erupted in May 2016, killing seven people. (Photo by Albert Damanik/Barcroft Images)

Indonesian army soldier Partika Subagyo, wearing a costume of the puppet character Bima, dances to raise money for landslide victims, in Solo, December 17, 2014, in this photo taken by Antara Foto. The landslide in Banjarnegara destroyed a village and killed at least 32 people, according to officials. (Photo by Andika Betha/Reuters/Antara Foto)

Miss Universe contestants Laurien Angelista, of Curacao, left, Yasmin Verheijen, of the Netherlands, and Kaci Fennell, of Jamaica, walk in the pool during the Yamamay swimsuit runway show, Wednesday, January 14, 2015, in Doral, Fla. The Miss Universe pageant will be held January 25 in Miami. (Photo by Lynne Sladky/AP Photo)