diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 4a29070d777..2758e7bf6b5 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ S3method(print,igraphHRG)
 S3method(print,igraphHRGConsensus)
 S3method(print,igraph_layout_modifier)
 S3method(print,igraph_layout_spec)
+S3method(print,igraph_version)
 S3method(print,membership)
 S3method(quantile,sir)
 S3method(rep,igraph)
diff --git a/R/aaa-auto.R b/R/aaa-auto.R
index 23282a77b5b..56040f992d6 100644
--- a/R/aaa-auto.R
+++ b/R/aaa-auto.R
@@ -3979,3 +3979,14 @@ vertex_path_from_edge_path_impl <- function(graph, start, edge.path, mode=c("out
   res
 }
 
+version_impl <- function() {
+  # Argument checks
+
+
+  on.exit( .Call(R_igraph_finalizer) )
+  # Function call
+  res <- .Call(R_igraph_version)
+
+  res
+}
+
diff --git a/R/test.R b/R/test.R
deleted file mode 100644
index ca61f7a1b3d..00000000000
--- a/R/test.R
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,59 +0,0 @@
-#' Query igraph's version string
-#'
-#' @description
-#' `r lifecycle::badge("deprecated")`
-#'
-#' `igraph.version()` was renamed to `igraph_version()` to create a more
-#' consistent API.
-#'
-#' @keywords internal
-#' @export
-igraph.version <- function() { # nocov start
-  lifecycle::deprecate_soft("2.0.0", "igraph.version()", "igraph_version()")
-  igraph_version()
-} # nocov end
-#   IGraph R package
-#   Copyright (C) 2005-2013  Gabor Csardi <csardi.gabor@gmail.com>
-#   334 Harvard street, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
-#
-#   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
-#   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
-#   the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
-#   (at your option) any later version.
-#
-#   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
-#   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-#   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
-#   GNU General Public License for more details.
-#
-#   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
-#   along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
-#   Foundation, Inc.,  51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
-#   02110-1301 USA
-#
-###################################################################
-
-# R_igraph_vers -----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-#' Query igraph's version string
-#'
-#' Returns the package version.
-#'
-#' The igraph version string is always the same as the version of the R package.
-#'
-#' @return A character scalar, the igraph version string.
-#' @author Gabor Csardi \email{csardi.gabor@@gmail.com}
-#' @keywords graphs
-#' @keywords internal
-#' @export
-#' @examples
-#'
-#' ## Compare to the package version
-#' packageDescription("igraph")$Version
-#' igraph_version()
-#'
-igraph_version <- function() {
-  # Better than packageVersion("igraph") because it uses the loaded package
-  # and is independent of .libPaths()
-  getNamespaceInfo("igraph", "spec")[["version"]]
-}
diff --git a/R/versions.R b/R/versions.R
index 2375b3ee642..4258d2c4cdc 100644
--- a/R/versions.R
+++ b/R/versions.R
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
 ##
 ## ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-
 # format versions
 ver_0_1_1 <- 0L # 0.1.1
 ver_0_4 <- 1L # 0.4
@@ -93,7 +92,12 @@ upgrade_graph <- function(graph) {
   }
 
   if (g_ver > p_ver) {
-    stop("Don't know how to downgrade graph from version ", g_ver, " to ", p_ver)
+    stop(
+      "Don't know how to downgrade graph from version ",
+      g_ver,
+      " to ",
+      p_ver
+    )
   }
 
   # g_ver < p_ver
@@ -153,7 +157,9 @@ warn_version <- function(graph) {
     return(TRUE)
   }
 
-  stop("This graph was created by a new(er) igraph version. Please install the latest version of igraph and try again.")
+  stop(
+    "This graph was created by a new(er) igraph version. Please install the latest version of igraph and try again."
+  )
 }
 
 oldpredecessors <- function() {
@@ -183,3 +189,58 @@ clear_native_ptr <- function(g) {
   gx[[igraph_t_idx_env]]$igraph <- NULL
   g
 }
+
+#' Query igraph's version string
+#'
+#' @description
+#' `r lifecycle::badge("deprecated")`
+#'
+#' `igraph.version()` was renamed to `igraph_version()` to create a more
+#' consistent API.
+#'
+#' @keywords internal
+#' @export
+igraph.version <- function() {
+  # nocov start
+  lifecycle::deprecate_soft("2.0.0", "igraph.version()", "igraph_version()")
+  igraph_version()
+} # nocov end
+
+
+# R_igraph_vers -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+#' Query igraph's version string
+#'
+#' Returns the R package version,
+#' prints the R package version and C library version.
+#'
+#'#' @return A character scalar, the igraph version string.
+#' @author Gabor Csardi \email{csardi.gabor@@gmail.com}
+#' @keywords graphs
+#' @keywords internal
+#' @export
+#' @examples
+#' igraph_version()
+#'
+igraph_version <- function(software = c("R", "C")) {
+  r_version <- getNamespaceInfo("igraph", "spec")[["version"]]
+
+  version <- structure(
+    r_version,
+    class = c("igraph_version", class(r_version)),
+    c_version = c_version()
+  )
+
+  invisible(version)
+}
+
+#' @export
+print.igraph_version <- function(x, ...) {
+  writeLines(paste0("R version: ", x))
+  writeLines(paste0("C version: ", attr(x, "c_version")))
+  invisible(x)
+}
+
+c_version <- function() {
+  version_impl()[["version_string"]]
+}
diff --git a/man/igraph.version.Rd b/man/igraph.version.Rd
index 672971579b7..b782b69ed00 100644
--- a/man/igraph.version.Rd
+++ b/man/igraph.version.Rd
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 % Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
-% Please edit documentation in R/test.R
+% Please edit documentation in R/versions.R
 \name{igraph.version}
 \alias{igraph.version}
 \title{Query igraph's version string}
diff --git a/man/igraph_version.Rd b/man/igraph_version.Rd
index 4a9849c4c80..426390911cb 100644
--- a/man/igraph_version.Rd
+++ b/man/igraph_version.Rd
@@ -1,24 +1,19 @@
 % Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
-% Please edit documentation in R/test.R
+% Please edit documentation in R/versions.R
 \name{igraph_version}
 \alias{igraph_version}
 \title{Query igraph's version string}
 \usage{
-igraph_version()
-}
-\value{
-A character scalar, the igraph version string.
+igraph_version(software = c("R", "C"))
 }
 \description{
-Returns the package version.
+Returns the R package version,
+prints the R package version and C library version.
 }
 \details{
-The igraph version string is always the same as the version of the R package.
+#' @return A character scalar, the igraph version string.
 }
 \examples{
-
-## Compare to the package version
-packageDescription("igraph")$Version
 igraph_version()
 
 }
diff --git a/src/cpp11.cpp b/src/cpp11.cpp
index afe03ffc244..5e7d835f982 100644
--- a/src/cpp11.cpp
+++ b/src/cpp11.cpp
@@ -449,6 +449,7 @@ extern SEXP R_igraph_turan(SEXP, SEXP);
 extern SEXP R_igraph_unfold_tree(SEXP, SEXP, SEXP);
 extern SEXP R_igraph_union(SEXP, SEXP);
 extern SEXP R_igraph_vcount(SEXP);
+extern SEXP R_igraph_version(void);
 extern SEXP R_igraph_vertex_coloring_greedy(SEXP, SEXP);
 extern SEXP R_igraph_vertex_connectivity(SEXP, SEXP);
 extern SEXP R_igraph_vertex_disjoint_paths(SEXP, SEXP, SEXP);
@@ -906,6 +907,7 @@ static const R_CallMethodDef CallEntries[] = {
     {"R_igraph_unfold_tree",                                (DL_FUNC) &R_igraph_unfold_tree,                                 3},
     {"R_igraph_union",                                      (DL_FUNC) &R_igraph_union,                                       2},
     {"R_igraph_vcount",                                     (DL_FUNC) &R_igraph_vcount,                                      1},
+    {"R_igraph_version",                                    (DL_FUNC) &R_igraph_version,                                     0},
     {"R_igraph_vertex_coloring_greedy",                     (DL_FUNC) &R_igraph_vertex_coloring_greedy,                      2},
     {"R_igraph_vertex_connectivity",                        (DL_FUNC) &R_igraph_vertex_connectivity,                         2},
     {"R_igraph_vertex_disjoint_paths",                      (DL_FUNC) &R_igraph_vertex_disjoint_paths,                       3},
diff --git a/src/rinterface.c b/src/rinterface.c
index 9160506caca..211f2aa20d8 100644
--- a/src/rinterface.c
+++ b/src/rinterface.c
@@ -11778,3 +11778,48 @@ SEXP R_igraph_vertex_path_from_edge_path(SEXP graph, SEXP start, SEXP edge_path,
   UNPROTECT(1);
   return(r_result);
 }
+
+/*-------------------------------------------/
+/ igraph_version                             /
+/-------------------------------------------*/
+SEXP R_igraph_version(void) {
+                                        /* Declarations */
+  const char* c_version_string;
+  int c_major;
+  int c_minor;
+  int c_subminor;
+  SEXP version_string;
+  SEXP major;
+  SEXP minor;
+  SEXP subminor;
+
+  SEXP r_result, r_names;
+                                        /* Convert input */
+
+                                        /* Call igraph */
+  igraph_version(&c_version_string, &c_major, &c_minor, &c_subminor);
+
+                                        /* Convert output */
+  PROTECT(r_result=NEW_LIST(4));
+  PROTECT(r_names=NEW_CHARACTER(4));
+  PROTECT(version_string = Rf_ScalarString(Rf_mkCharLenCE(c_version_string, strlen(c_version_string), CE_UTF8)));
+  PROTECT(major=NEW_INTEGER(1));
+  INTEGER(major)[0]=(int) c_major;
+  PROTECT(minor=NEW_INTEGER(1));
+  INTEGER(minor)[0]=(int) c_minor;
+  PROTECT(subminor=NEW_INTEGER(1));
+  INTEGER(subminor)[0]=(int) c_subminor;
+  SET_VECTOR_ELT(r_result, 0, version_string);
+  SET_VECTOR_ELT(r_result, 1, major);
+  SET_VECTOR_ELT(r_result, 2, minor);
+  SET_VECTOR_ELT(r_result, 3, subminor);
+  SET_STRING_ELT(r_names, 0, Rf_mkChar("version_string"));
+  SET_STRING_ELT(r_names, 1, Rf_mkChar("major"));
+  SET_STRING_ELT(r_names, 2, Rf_mkChar("minor"));
+  SET_STRING_ELT(r_names, 3, Rf_mkChar("subminor"));
+  SET_NAMES(r_result, r_names);
+  UNPROTECT(5);
+
+  UNPROTECT(1);
+  return(r_result);
+}
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-versions.R b/tests/testthat/test-versions.R
index ea1263b82d1..b7824c95c7f 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-versions.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-versions.R
@@ -128,5 +128,16 @@ test_that("igraph_version returns a version string", {
     "\\b"
   )
 
-  expect_true(grepl(regex, igraph_version()))
+  expect_match(igraph_version("R"), regex)
+  expect_match(igraph_version(), regex)
+  
+  c_regex <- paste0(
+    "\\b", # word boundary
+    "(?:0|[1-9][0-9]*)\\.", # major
+    "(?:0|[1-9][0-9]*)\\.", # minor
+    "(?:0|[1-9][0-9]*)", # subminor
+    "\\b"
+  )
+
+  expect_match(igraph_version("C"), c_regex)
 })
diff --git a/tools/stimulus/functions-R.yaml b/tools/stimulus/functions-R.yaml
index bb3ec95f65a..3bac0129fbd 100644
--- a/tools/stimulus/functions-R.yaml
+++ b/tools/stimulus/functions-R.yaml
@@ -1594,4 +1594,3 @@ igraph_vertex_path_from_edge_path:
 #######################################
 
 igraph_version:
-    IGNORE: RR, RC
diff --git a/tools/stimulus/types-RC.yaml b/tools/stimulus/types-RC.yaml
index 95244bd425d..2682aa49d87 100644
--- a/tools/stimulus/types-RC.yaml
+++ b/tools/stimulus/types-RC.yaml
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ CSTRING:
             %C% = Rf_translateCharUTF8(%I%);
     OUTCONV:
         OUT: |-
-            PROTECT(%I% = Rf_mkCharLenCE(%C%, strlen(%C%), CE_UTF8));
+            PROTECT(%I% = Rf_ScalarString(Rf_mkCharLenCE(%C%, strlen(%C%), CE_UTF8)));
 
 REAL:
     CTYPE: igraph_real_t