diff --git a/python/opendht.pyx b/python/opendht.pyx
index 17cf113b..88fd30ee 100644
--- a/python/opendht.pyx
+++ b/python/opendht.pyx
@@ -48,6 +48,9 @@ cdef inline _deinitialize_gnutls():
 # Initialize GnuTLS when this module is imported
 _initialize_gnutls()
 
+def version() -> str:
+    return cpp.version().decode()
+
 cdef inline void lookup_callback(cpp.vector[cpp.shared_ptr[cpp.IndexValue]]* values, cpp.Prefix* p, void *user_data) noexcept with gil:
     cbs = <object>user_data
     if 'lookup' in cbs and cbs['lookup']:
diff --git a/python/opendht/__init__.py b/python/opendht/__init__.py
index 81c21ea9..627290ba 100644
--- a/python/opendht/__init__.py
+++ b/python/opendht/__init__.py
@@ -8,4 +8,5 @@ pure-Python asyncio-friendly wrapper under ``opendht.aio``.
 
 from ._core import *  # re-export core Cython bindings
 
+__version__ = version()
 __all__ = [name for name in dir() if not name.startswith("_")]
diff --git a/python/opendht_cpp.pxd b/python/opendht_cpp.pxd
index c1cdc94a..73a111de 100644
--- a/python/opendht_cpp.pxd
+++ b/python/opendht_cpp.pxd
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ cdef extern from "<future>" namespace "std" nogil:
         shared_future[T] share()
 
 cdef extern from "opendht/utils.h" namespace "dht":
+    const char* version()
     cdef cppclass time_point:
         @staticmethod
         time_point min() const