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"Christmas Eve" is the first ever concert melodrama that was introduced to the Czech audience. In celebration of the 130th anniversary of its first ever performance, Dita Asiedu explores how this masterpiece by the great Czech composer Zdenek Fibich was born and visits a Prague exhibition devoted to Christmas Eve in art.

Are you tired of baking the same Christmas cookies year after year? Do you have a sweet tooth and think it deserves a special treat at Christmas time? Jarka Halkova asked Martin Polacko, a young and up-and-coming chef, to come to your aid. He proposed apples and pears wrapped in pastry "purses" - a Christmas dessert that's delicious and very easy to bake. Here's the recipe:

It was only just a few months ago that Czechs were first introduced - some would say subjected to - reality TV. In late summer two new programmes hit the commercial stations, Big Brother and the then lesser-known VyVoleni (The Selected), drawing a great deal of media attention. Millions have now tuned in - and a great number of young viewers watch regularly - but others were turned-off from the start, either unimpressed or offended by the exploits of the shows' overnight celebrities. Until now. A new reality show begun this month by Czech Radio

Robert J.W. Evans, a professor of history at Oxford, is one of the world's leading authorities on the historical development of Central Europe. Among other things, he has written an award-winning history of the Habsburg Empire, which is considered required reading for anyone interested in the evolution and legacy of the Habsburg monarchs who dominated this part of the world for six centuries up to the end of the First World War. Having started his academic career as a linguist, Professor Evans is also well known for his analysis of the role language

October 28th is the Czech National Day, the anniversary of the foundation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, an opportunity look at the role of music - particularly patriotic music - in the creation and development of the Czech nation. A good place to start is Bedrich Smetana's opera Libuse, which is an early and very important musical manifestation of the Czech national awakening which had begun in the early 1800s.

The Kinskys are one of the oldest Czech noble families, with the first recorded mention of their name in the 13th century. But today Franz-Ulrich Kinsky is a figure of controversy in the Czech Republic, where he has filed over 150 lawsuits against the state and individuals; he is seeking the return of more than 1.4 billion dollars worth of property he says was illegally confiscated after World War II.

In today's special programme we meet Joyce Pritchard, an American woman who recently went back to her roots, when she visited the isolated Czech villages in Romania from which her great-grandparents emigrated a century ago. She and 14 other Americans of Czech-Romanian descent met long-lost relatives and experienced old Czech customs in a region somewhat left behind by the modern world. It was, says Joyce Pritchard, the trip of a lifetime.

Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, Prague has become one of the most visited tourist destinations in Europe. But in the last few years the Czech capital has also become hugely popular with British stag groups, large groups of men celebrating some husband-to-be's last weekend of freedom, or just here to have a good time in a city which has earned a dubious reputation as "the Amsterdam of the East".

Even if you have never heard of the Czech artist Alfons Mucha, you will almost certainly have seen his work. He is probably the defining artist of the Art Nouveau period at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and the wonderfully lush and expressive posters he designed in Paris - most famously of the actress Sarah Bernhardt - have been reproduced many times the world over. Today Alfons Mucha's works are in the loving care of his grandson John and daughter-in-law, Geraldine Mucha, here in Prague. Geraldine is an accomplished and internationally

The Gratias Agit awards are presented every year to those who have helped promote the good name of the Czech Republic around the world. Laureates include Czechs and foreigners, individuals and institutions; this year's recipients range from the renowned businessman Tomas Bata, to Liu Xingcan, a Chinese translator of Czech literature.