diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index e9498ac21..585213159 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -314,6 +314,29 @@ else()
 	set(GTSAM_EIGEN_INCLUDE_FOR_BUILD "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/gtsam/3rdparty/Eigen/")
 endif()
 
+# Detect Eigen version:
+set(EIGEN_VER_H "${GTSAM_EIGEN_INCLUDE_FOR_BUILD}/Eigen/src/Core/util/Macros.h")
+if (EXISTS ${EIGEN_VER_H})
+	file(READ "${EIGEN_VER_H}" STR_EIGEN_VERSION)
+
+	# Extract the Eigen version from the Macros.h file, lines "#define EIGEN_WORLD_VERSION  XX", etc...
+
+	string(REGEX MATCH "EIGEN_WORLD_VERSION[ ]+[0-9]+" GTSAM_EIGEN_VERSION_WORLD "${STR_EIGEN_VERSION}")
+	string(REGEX MATCH "[0-9]+" GTSAM_EIGEN_VERSION_WORLD "${GTSAM_EIGEN_VERSION_WORLD}")
+
+	string(REGEX MATCH "EIGEN_MAJOR_VERSION[ ]+[0-9]+" GTSAM_EIGEN_VERSION_MAJOR "${STR_EIGEN_VERSION}")
+	string(REGEX MATCH "[0-9]+" GTSAM_EIGEN_VERSION_MAJOR "${GTSAM_EIGEN_VERSION_MAJOR}")
+
+	string(REGEX MATCH "EIGEN_MINOR_VERSION[ ]+[0-9]+" GTSAM_EIGEN_VERSION_MINOR "${STR_EIGEN_VERSION}")
+	string(REGEX MATCH "[0-9]+" GTSAM_EIGEN_VERSION_MINOR "${GTSAM_EIGEN_VERSION_MINOR}")
+
+	set(GTSAM_EIGEN_VERSION "${GTSAM_EIGEN_VERSION_WORLD}.${GTSAM_EIGEN_VERSION_MAJOR}.${GTSAM_EIGEN_VERSION_MINOR}")
+
+	message(STATUS "Found Eigen version: ${GTSAM_EIGEN_VERSION}")
+else()
+	message(WARNING "Cannot determine Eigen version, missing file: `${EIGEN_VER_H}`")
+endif ()
+
 if (MSVC)
 	if (BUILD_SHARED_LIBS)
 		# mute eigen static assert to avoid errors in shared lib
@@ -499,11 +522,7 @@ if(NOT MSVC AND NOT XCODE_VERSION)
     message(STATUS "  C compilation flags            : ${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} ${CMAKE_C_FLAGS_${cmake_build_type_toupper}}")
     message(STATUS "  C++ compilation flags          : ${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} ${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_${cmake_build_type_toupper}}")
 endif()
-if(GTSAM_USE_SYSTEM_EIGEN)
-    message(STATUS "  Use System Eigen               : Yes")
-else()
-    message(STATUS "  Use System Eigen               : No")
-endif()
+message(STATUS "  Use System Eigen               : ${GTSAM_USE_SYSTEM_EIGEN} (Using version: ${GTSAM_EIGEN_VERSION})")
 if(GTSAM_USE_TBB)
 	message(STATUS "  Use Intel TBB                  : Yes")
 elseif(TBB_FOUND)
diff --git a/gtsam/base/Vector.h b/gtsam/base/Vector.h
index 91aec85b8..74cb89918 100644
--- a/gtsam/base/Vector.h
+++ b/gtsam/base/Vector.h
@@ -63,6 +63,19 @@ GTSAM_MAKE_VECTOR_DEFS(12);
 typedef Eigen::VectorBlock<Vector> SubVector;
 typedef Eigen::VectorBlock<const Vector> ConstSubVector;
 
+/**
+  * Ensure we are not including a different version of Eigen in user code than
+  * while compiling gtsam, since it can lead to hard-to-understand runtime
+  * crashes.
+  */
+#if defined(GTSAM_EIGEN_VERSION_WORLD)
+static_assert(
+    GTSAM_EIGEN_VERSION_WORLD==EIGEN_WORLD_VERSION &&
+    GTSAM_EIGEN_VERSION_MAJOR==EIGEN_MAJOR_VERSION &&
+    GTSAM_EIGEN_VERSION_MINOR==EIGEN_MINOR_VERSION,
+  "Error: GTSAM was built against a different version of Eigen");
+#endif
+
 /**
  * print without optional string, must specify cout yourself
  */
diff --git a/gtsam/config.h.in b/gtsam/config.h.in
index 8433f19b0..92380f8eb 100644
--- a/gtsam/config.h.in
+++ b/gtsam/config.h.in
@@ -52,6 +52,12 @@
 // Whether Eigen with MKL will use OpenMP (if OpenMP was found, Eigen uses MKL, and GTSAM_WITH_EIGEN_MKL_OPENMP is enabled in CMake)
 #cmakedefine GTSAM_USE_EIGEN_MKL_OPENMP
 
+// Eigen library version (needed to avoid mixing versions, which often leads
+// to segfaults)
+#cmakedefine GTSAM_EIGEN_VERSION_WORLD @GTSAM_EIGEN_VERSION_WORLD@
+#cmakedefine GTSAM_EIGEN_VERSION_MAJOR @GTSAM_EIGEN_VERSION_MAJOR@
+#cmakedefine GTSAM_EIGEN_VERSION_MINOR @GTSAM_EIGEN_VERSION_MINOR@
+
 // The default allocator to use
 #cmakedefine GTSAM_ALLOCATOR_BOOSTPOOL
 #cmakedefine GTSAM_ALLOCATOR_TBB