diff --git a/pkgs/tools/graphics/povray/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/graphics/povray/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..12f307ca9def
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/tools/graphics/povray/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+{stdenv, fetchurl}:
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  name = "povray-3.6";
+
+  src = fetchurl {
+    url = http://www.povray.org/redirect/www.povray.org/ftp/pub/povray/Official/Unix/povray-3.6.tar.bz2;
+    sha256 = "0wvsfgkybx28mj2p76nnsq9rdq50192g5qb7d0xk81s8skn7z2jf";
+  };
+
+  # the installPhase wants to put files into $HOME. I let it put the files
+  # to $TMPDIR, so they don't get into the $out
+  patchPhase = ''
+    sed -i -e 's/^povconfuser.*/povconfuser=$(TMPDIR)\/povray/' Makefile.{am,in};
+  '';
+  # I didn't use configureFlags because I couldn't pass the quotes properly
+  # for the COMPILED_BY.
+  configurePhase = "./configure --prefix=$out COMPILED_BY=\"nix\"";
+  
+  meta = {
+    homepage = http://www.povray.org/;
+    description = "Persistence of Vision Raytracer";
+    license = "free";
+  };
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index b31d4811a6e3..3ebec0f40e93 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -1123,6 +1123,10 @@ let
     inherit (xlibs) libX11;
   };
 
+  povray = import ../tools/graphics/povray {
+    inherit fetchurl stdenv;
+  };
+
   /* WARNING: this version is unsuitable for using with a setuid wrapper */
   ppp = builderDefsPackage (import ../tools/networking/ppp) {
   };