A participant holds balloons before the Annual March against Homophobia and Transphobia in Havana, May 14, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

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.

2016 Rio Olympics, Judo, Final, Women, 48 kg Bronze Medal Contests, Carioca Arena 2, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 6, 2016. Otgontsetseg Galbadrakh (KAZ) of Kazakhstan and Dayaris Mestre Alvarez (CUB) of Cuba react. (Photo by Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)

An exhibitor takes a photo with a Huawei Mate 10 Pro during the 2018 CES in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. January 9, 2018. CES, the world's largest annual consumer technology trade show, runs through January 12 and features about 3,900 exhibitors showing off their latest products and services to more than 170,000 attendees. (Photo by Steve Marcus/Reuters)

Model and current Victoria's Secret Angel Elsa Hosk is seen wearing Jacob and Co jewelry while out and about in New York City on April 26, 2018. (Photo by Peter Parker/Splash News and Pictures)

A man pushes her daughter on a cart as they shop at a market in Seoul, South Korea, July 26, 2016. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

Filipino beauty candidates hide from the sun before a group photo during the media presentation of the Miss Philippines Earth 2017 held at a hotel in Manila, Philippines, 05 July 2017. A total of 40 environmentally aware and concerned Filipino young ladies will compete to represent the Philippines at the Miss Earth beauty pageant. Miss Earth is a pioneering beauty pageant that serves as a vehicle for environmental advocacy. (Photo by Mark R. Cristino/EPA)

Marry Ousmane, 18, poses outside while wearing her prom dress on May 29, 2020 in the Brooklyn borough in New York City. Marry Ousmane is best friends with Patrice Toussaint and both are seniors at Edward Murrow high school in Brooklyn whose senior prom was canceled due to all schools being closed during the coronavirus pandemic. Toussaint said, “I've been planning for four years. I was going to have a send off party with a barbecue and a red carpet. I was going to have two dresses and wear a crown”. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)