diff --git a/cpp/BayesNet-inl.h b/cpp/BayesNet-inl.h
index ad7d1f618..2f7af67a4 100644
--- a/cpp/BayesNet-inl.h
+++ b/cpp/BayesNet-inl.h
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
  */
 
 #include <iostream>
+#include <fstream>
 #include <boost/foreach.hpp>
 #include <boost/tuple/tuple.hpp>
 
@@ -59,6 +60,21 @@ namespace gtsam {
 		return ord;
 	}
 
+	/* ************************************************************************* */
+	template<class Conditional>
+	void BayesNet<Conditional>::saveGraph(const std::string &s) const {
+		ofstream of(s.c_str());
+		of<< "digraph G{\n";
+		BOOST_FOREACH(sharedConditional conditional,conditionals_) {
+			Symbol child = conditional->key();
+			BOOST_FOREACH(const Symbol& parent,conditional->parents()) {
+				of << (string)parent << "->" << (string)child << endl;
+			}
+		}
+		of<<"}";
+		of.close();
+	}
+
 	/* ************************************************************************* */
 
 	template<class Conditional>
diff --git a/cpp/BayesNet.h b/cpp/BayesNet.h
index 2a20fa0fa..462874a33 100644
--- a/cpp/BayesNet.h
+++ b/cpp/BayesNet.h
@@ -97,6 +97,9 @@ namespace gtsam {
 		inline const_reverse_iterator const rbegin() const {return conditionals_.rbegin();}
 		inline const_reverse_iterator const rend()   const {return conditionals_.rend();}
 
+		/** saves the bayes to a text file in GraphViz format */
+		void saveGraph(const std::string& s) const;
+
 	private:
 		/** Serialization function */
 		friend class boost::serialization::access;