diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index b9b9bb4..498f447 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ alphabetical order):
 - Christophe-Marie Duquesne
 - Craig Gallek
 - @datro
+- David Schultz
 - David Siroky
 - Edward Betts
 - Edwin Steele
diff --git a/sigal/gallery.py b/sigal/gallery.py
index aa10419..a2edff1 100644
--- a/sigal/gallery.py
+++ b/sigal/gallery.py
@@ -619,6 +619,9 @@ class Gallery:
         self.init_pool(ncpu)
         check_or_create_dir(settings['destination'])
 
+        if settings['max_img_pixels']:
+            PILImage.MAX_IMAGE_PIXELS = settings['max_img_pixels']
+
         # Build the list of directories with images
         albums = self.albums = {}
         src_path = self.settings['source']
@@ -708,7 +711,11 @@ class Gallery:
 
         self.logger.info("Using %s cores", ncpu)
         if ncpu > 1:
-            self.pool = multiprocessing.Pool(processes=ncpu)
+            def pool_init():
+                if self.settings['max_img_pixels']:
+                    PILImage.MAX_IMAGE_PIXELS = self.settings['max_img_pixels']
+            self.pool = multiprocessing.Pool(processes=ncpu,
+                                             initializer=pool_init)
         else:
             self.pool = None
 
@@ -756,8 +763,6 @@ class Gallery:
                     for status in self.pool.imap_unordered(worker, media_list):
                         result.append(status)
                         bar.update(1)
-                self.pool.close()
-                self.pool.join()
             except KeyboardInterrupt:
                 self.pool.terminate()
                 sys.exit('Interrupted')
@@ -768,6 +773,9 @@ class Gallery:
                     "defined in the settings file, which can't be serialized.",
                     exc_info=True)
                 sys.exit('Abort')
+            finally:
+                self.pool.close()
+                self.pool.join()
         else:
             with progressbar(media_list, **bar_opt) as medias:
                 result = [process_file(media_item) for media_item in medias]
diff --git a/sigal/settings.py b/sigal/settings.py
index df8bbd1..5a51060 100644
--- a/sigal/settings.py
+++ b/sigal/settings.py
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ _DEFAULT_CONFIG = {
     'links': '',
     'locale': '',
     'make_thumbs': True,
+    'max_img_pixels': None,
     'medias_sort_attr': 'filename',
     'medias_sort_reverse': False,
     'mp4_options': ['-crf', '23', '-strict', '-2'],
diff --git a/sigal/templates/sigal.conf.py b/sigal/templates/sigal.conf.py
index 6230ac3..ee4ce42 100644
--- a/sigal/templates/sigal.conf.py
+++ b/sigal/templates/sigal.conf.py
@@ -46,6 +46,11 @@ theme = 'galleria'
 # Size of resized image (default: (640, 480))
 img_size = (800, 600)
 
+# Max input image size in pixels (default: None, i.e. use PIL default)
+# This option sets `PIL.Image.MAX_IMAGE_PIXELS` in case you want to
+# convert/resize very large images.
+# max_img_pixels = None
+
 # Output format of images (default: None, i.e. use input format)
 # img_format = "JPEG"
 
diff --git a/tests/test_gallery.py b/tests/test_gallery.py
index 4255a3f..2780f75 100644
--- a/tests/test_gallery.py
+++ b/tests/test_gallery.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import os
 from os.path import join
 
 import pytest
+from PIL import Image as PILImage
 
 from sigal.gallery import Album, Gallery, Image, Media, Video
 from sigal.video import SubprocessException
@@ -289,6 +290,31 @@ def test_gallery(settings, tmpdir):
         logger.setLevel(logging.INFO)
 
 
+def test_gallery_max_img_pixels(settings, tmpdir, monkeypatch):
+    "Test the Gallery class with the max_img_pixels setting."
+    monkeypatch.setattr('PIL.Image.MAX_IMAGE_PIXELS', 100000000)
+
+    with open(str(tmpdir.join('my.css')), mode='w') as f:
+        f.write('color: red')
+
+    settings['destination'] = str(tmpdir)
+    settings['user_css'] = str(tmpdir.join('my.css'))
+    settings['max_img_pixels'] = 5000
+
+    logger = logging.getLogger('sigal')
+    logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
+    try:
+        with pytest.raises(PILImage.DecompressionBombError):
+            gal = Gallery(settings, ncpu=1)
+            gal.build()
+
+        settings['max_img_pixels'] = 100000000
+        gal = Gallery(settings, ncpu=1)
+        gal.build()
+    finally:
+        logger.setLevel(logging.INFO)
+
+
 def test_empty_dirs(settings):
     gal = Gallery(settings, ncpu=1)
     assert 'empty' not in gal.albums