Czech Christmas glass, from love affair to Unesco status

A worker handles newly painted Christmas tree decorations made of from blown glass beads and featuring Santa Claus in small family factory in Ponikla village, North Bohemia in the Czech Republic. Photo: AFP

Sparkling with colourful glitter, the small glassware shop in the Czech mountains lights up a grim, foggy day, as Christmas shoppers stream in to the constant chime of the doorbell.

They come to buy blown-glass beaded decorations including stars, angels, snowmen, Santa Clauses or cribs made by a small company in Ponikla, a village in the northern Czech Republic.