diff --git a/common/bigunsignedint.hh b/common/bigunsignedint.hh
index b8bfd42a2efb5e5d2a3ca20e803817b51102a0a9..0ed4c14e0c3a99580670438e36297a480a80b702 100644
--- a/common/bigunsignedint.hh
+++ b/common/bigunsignedint.hh
@@ -12,6 +12,12 @@
  * @brief  Portable very large unsigned integers
  * @author Peter Bastian
  */
+
+namespace std
+{
+  template<class T> struct numeric_limits;
+}
+
 namespace Dune
 {
   /** @addtogroup Common
@@ -114,6 +120,8 @@ namespace Dune
     unsigned int touint() const;
 
     friend class bigunsignedint<k/2>;
+    friend class std::numeric_limits<bigunsignedint<k> >;
+
   private:
     unsigned short digit[n];
 #ifdef HAVE_MPI
@@ -494,4 +502,89 @@ namespace Dune
 
   /** @} */
 }
+
+namespace std
+{
+  template<class T> struct numeric_limits;
+
+  template<int k>
+  struct numeric_limits<Dune::bigunsignedint<k> >
+  {
+    static const bool is_specialized = true;
+
+    static Dune::bigunsignedint<k> min()
+    {
+      return static_cast<Dune::bigunsignedint<k> >(0);
+    }
+
+    static Dune::bigunsignedint<k> max()
+    {
+      Dune::bigunsignedint<k> max_;
+      for(std::size_t i=0; i < Dune::bigunsignedint<k>::n; ++i)
+        max_.digit[i]=std::numeric_limits<unsigned short>::max();
+      return max_;
+    }
+
+
+    static const int digits = Dune::bigunsignedint<k>::bits *
+                              Dune::bigunsignedint<k>::n;
+    static const bool is_signed = false;
+    static const bool is_integer = true;
+    static const bool is_exact = true;
+    static const int radix = 2;
+
+    static Dune::bigunsignedint<k> epsilon()
+    {
+      return static_cast<Dune::bigunsignedint<k> >(0);
+    }
+
+    static Dune::bigunsignedint<k> round_error()
+    {
+      return static_cast<Dune::bigunsignedint<k> >(0);
+    }
+
+    static const int min_exponent = 0;
+    static const int min_exponent10 = 0;
+    static const int max_exponent = 0;
+    static const int max_exponent10 = 0;
+
+    static const bool has_infinity = false;
+    static const bool has_quiet_NaN = false;
+    static const bool has_signaling_NaN = false;
+
+    static const float_denorm_style has_denorm = denorm_absent;
+    static const bool has_denorm_loss = false;
+
+    static Dune::bigunsignedint<k> infinity() throw()
+    {
+      return static_cast<Dune::bigunsignedint<k> >(0);
+    }
+
+    static Dune::bigunsignedint<k> quiet_NaN() throw()
+    {
+      return static_cast<Dune::bigunsignedint<k> >(0);
+    }
+
+    static Dune::bigunsignedint<k> signaling_NaN() throw()
+    {
+      return static_cast<Dune::bigunsignedint<k> >(0);
+    }
+
+    static Dune::bigunsignedint<k> denorm_min() throw()
+    {
+      return static_cast<Dune::bigunsignedint<k> >(0);
+    }
+
+    static const bool is_iec559 = false;
+    static const bool is_bounded = true;
+    static const bool is_modulo = true;
+
+    static const bool traps = __glibcxx_integral_traps;
+    static const bool tinyness_before = false;
+    static const float_round_style round_style = round_toward_zero;
+
+  };
+
+}
+
 #endif
diff --git a/common/test/Makefile.am b/common/test/Makefile.am
index 8f972ac78dc2e468e87f2f07981e9aae417d4fcc..ceba51dc2a2d9a1115f2f2a6096c5ce3ca8ab4df 100644
--- a/common/test/Makefile.am
+++ b/common/test/Makefile.am
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
 
 TESTPROGS = parsetest test-stack arraylisttest smartpointertest \
 	sllisttest iteratorfacadetest tuplestest fmatrixtest \
-	poolallocatortest settest gcdlcdtest streamtest
+	poolallocatortest settest gcdlcdtest streamtest \
+	bigunsignedinttest
 # exprtmpl
 
 # which tests to run
@@ -13,6 +14,10 @@ check_PROGRAMS = $(TESTPROGS)
 
 # define the programs
 
+
+bigunsignedinttest_SOURCES=bigunsignedinttest.cc
+bigunsignedinttest_DEPENDENCIES = $(LIBDUNE)
+
 parsetest_SOURCES = parsetest.cc
 parsetest_DEPENDENCIES = $(LOCAL_LIBS)
 
diff --git a/common/test/bigunsignedinttest.cc b/common/test/bigunsignedinttest.cc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..4cb21203dfc86b3e5d959415495866b25a54c321
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/test/bigunsignedinttest.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+// -*- tab-width: 4; indent-tabs-mode: nil; c-basic-offset: 2 -*-
+// vi: set et ts=4 sw=2 sts=2:
+#include "config.h"
+#include <dune/common/bigunsignedint.hh>
+#include <limits>
+#include <iostream>
+
+int main()
+{
+  std::cout<<"unsigned short: max="<<std::numeric_limits<unsigned short>::max()
+           <<" min="<<std::numeric_limits<unsigned short>::min()
+           <<" digits="<<std::numeric_limits<unsigned short>::digits<<std::endl;
+  std::cout<<"int: max="<<std::numeric_limits<int>::max()<<" min="
+           <<std::numeric_limits<int>::min()<<" digits="
+           <<std::numeric_limits<int>::digits<<std::endl;
+  std::cout<<"unsigned int: max="<<std::numeric_limits<unsigned int>::max()
+           <<" min="<<std::numeric_limits<unsigned int>::min()<<" digits="
+           <<std::numeric_limits<unsigned int>::digits<<" digits10="
+           <<std::numeric_limits<unsigned int>::digits10<<" radix="
+           <<std::numeric_limits<unsigned int>::radix<<" eps="
+           <<std::numeric_limits<unsigned int>::epsilon()
+           <<" round_error="
+           <<std::numeric_limits<unsigned int>::round_error()
+           <<" min_exponent="
+           <<std::numeric_limits<unsigned int>::min_exponent
+           <<" float_denorm_style="
+           <<std::numeric_limits<unsigned int>::has_denorm
+           <<std::endl;
+  std::cout<<"bigunsignedint: max="<<std::numeric_limits<Dune::bigunsignedint<32> >::max()
+           <<" min="<<std::numeric_limits<Dune::bigunsignedint<32> >::min()<<" digits="<<std::numeric_limits<Dune::bigunsignedint<32> >::digits<<std::endl;
+  std::cout<<"bigunsignedint: max="<<std::numeric_limits<Dune::bigunsignedint<100> >::max()
+           <<" min="<<std::numeric_limits<Dune::bigunsignedint<100> >::min()<<" digits="<<std::numeric_limits<Dune::bigunsignedint<100> >::digits<<std::endl;
+
+}