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.

Gisele Marie, a Muslim woman and professional heavy metal musician, holds her Gibson Flying V electric guitar as walks down stairs at the end of a fund raising concert for the Syrian refugees in Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro November 8, 2015. Based in Sao Paulo, Marie, 42, is the granddaughter of German Catholics, and converted to Islam several months after her father passed away in 2009. Marie, who wears the burka, has been fronting her brothers' heavy metal band "Spectrus" since 2012. (Photo by Nacho Doce/Reuters)

“Dover Castle is a medieval castle in the town of the same name in the English county of Kent. It was founded in the 12th century and has been described as the “Key to England” due to its defensive significance throughout history. It is the largest castle in England.

The outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 saw the tunnels converted first into an air-raid shelter and then later into a military command centre and underground hospital. In May 1940, Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsey directed the evacuation of French and British soldiers from Dunkirk, code-named Operation Dynamo, from his headquarters in the cliff tunnels”. – Wikipedia

Photo: The Repeater Station in the subterranean tunnels underneath Dover Castle, which has been restored by English Heritage for a public exhibition on June 3, 2011 in Dover, England. The evacuation of allied soldiers from Dunkirk was masterminded and co-ordinated from the secret command and control centre in the tunnels deep below the castle. (Photo by Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images)

Nicholas Mee & Co, an Aston Martin Heritage Dealer in West London, have just finished putting the final touches to a fully functional kid-sized car inspired by the legendary Aston Martin DB models of the 1960s. But this is no rickety pedal car. It has a steel chassis, composite bodywork, leather seats, a wood rimmed steering wheel and Brembo disc brakes.

Long row of shiny new Flying Fortresses, part of huge reserves being built up in Britain for D-Day, stands by to be flown to combat units as replacements, May 25, 1944. (Photo by AP Photo)

Ford displays the drive train of the F150 Raptor SVT truck during the media preview of the Chicago Auto Show at McCormick Place on February 8, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. The show, which is the largest and oldest auto show in the country, opens to the public on February 10. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

In this January 11, 2018 photo, a skater jumps a ramp during the inauguration of a new recreational space for skateboarders, created in an abandoned gym at the Educational complex Ciudad Libertad, a former military barracks that the late Fidel Castro turned into a school complex after the revolution in Havana, Cuba. Foreign skateboard enthusiasts supply their Cuban counterparts with boards and other equipment. (Photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo)

A Palestinian man sells corn at Gaza Beach during sunset on August 8, 2021. (Photo by Sameh Rahmi/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)