diff --git a/Modules/FindLua51.cmake b/Modules/FindLua51.cmake
index 123fd5d05..b67dd4cec 100644
--- a/Modules/FindLua51.cmake
+++ b/Modules/FindLua51.cmake
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
 # This module defines
 #  LUA51_FOUND, if false, do not try to link to Lua 
 #  LUA_LIBRARIES
-#  LUA_INCLUDE_DIR, where to find lua.h 
+#  LUA_INCLUDE_DIR, where to find lua.h
+#  LUA_VERSION_STRING, the version of Lua found (since CMake 2.8.8)
 #
 # Note that the expected include convention is
 #  #include "lua.h"
@@ -66,10 +67,19 @@ IF(LUA_LIBRARY)
   ENDIF(UNIX AND NOT APPLE)
 ENDIF(LUA_LIBRARY)
 
+IF(LUA_INCLUDE_DIR AND EXISTS "${LUA_INCLUDE_DIR}/lua.h")
+  FILE(STRINGS "${LUA_INCLUDE_DIR}/lua.h" lua_version_str REGEX "^#define[ \t]+LUA_RELEASE[ \t]+\"Lua .+\"")
+
+  STRING(REGEX REPLACE "^#define[ \t]+LUA_RELEASE[ \t]+\"Lua ([^\"]+)\".*" "\\1" LUA_VERSION_STRING "${lua_version_str}")
+  UNSET(lua_version_str)
+ENDIF()
+
 INCLUDE(${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/FindPackageHandleStandardArgs.cmake)
 # handle the QUIETLY and REQUIRED arguments and set LUA_FOUND to TRUE if 
 # all listed variables are TRUE
-FIND_PACKAGE_HANDLE_STANDARD_ARGS(Lua51  DEFAULT_MSG  LUA_LIBRARIES LUA_INCLUDE_DIR)
+FIND_PACKAGE_HANDLE_STANDARD_ARGS(Lua51
+                                  REQUIRED_VARS LUA_LIBRARIES LUA_INCLUDE_DIR
+                                  VERSION_VAR LUA_VERSION_STRING)
 
 MARK_AS_ADVANCED(LUA_INCLUDE_DIR LUA_LIBRARIES LUA_LIBRARY LUA_MATH_LIBRARY)