diff --git a/doc/conf.py b/doc/conf.py
index 709d6f750..a826f4c2a 100644
--- a/doc/conf.py
+++ b/doc/conf.py
@@ -75,7 +75,8 @@ pygments_style = 'friendly'
 # The style sheet to use for HTML and HTML Help pages. A file of that name
 # must exist either in Sphinx' static/ path, or in one of the custom paths
 # given in html_static_path.
-html_style = 'sphinxdoc.css'
+#html_style = 'sphinxdoc.css'
+html_theme = 'sphinxdoc'
 
 # Add any paths that contain custom static files (such as style sheets) here,
 # relative to this directory. They are copied after the builtin static files,
diff --git a/sphinx/builders/__init__.py b/sphinx/builders/__init__.py
index 8847b6dca..5179cba0c 100644
--- a/sphinx/builders/__init__.py
+++ b/sphinx/builders/__init__.py
@@ -72,16 +72,20 @@ class Builder(object):
 
     def init_templates(self):
         """
-        Initialize the template system.
+        Initialize the theme and template system.
 
         Call this method from init() if you need templates in your builder.
         """
+        from sphinx.theming import Theme
+        Theme.init_themes(self)
+        self.theme = Theme(self.config.html_theme)
+
         if self.config.template_bridge:
             self.templates = self.app.import_object(
                 self.config.template_bridge, 'template_bridge setting')()
         else:
-            from sphinx.jinja2glue import BuiltinTemplates
-            self.templates = BuiltinTemplates()
+            from sphinx.jinja2glue import BuiltinTemplateLoader
+            self.templates = BuiltinTemplateLoader()
         self.templates.init(self)
 
     def get_target_uri(self, docname, typ=None):
diff --git a/sphinx/builders/html.py b/sphinx/builders/html.py
index 91682aa20..55cf2de2a 100644
--- a/sphinx/builders/html.py
+++ b/sphinx/builders/html.py
@@ -62,7 +62,6 @@ class StandaloneHTMLBuilder(Builder):
     script_files = ['_static/jquery.js', '_static/doctools.js']
 
     def init(self):
-        """Load templates."""
         self.init_templates()
         self.init_translator_class()
         if self.config.html_file_suffix:
@@ -382,7 +381,8 @@ class StandaloneHTMLBuilder(Builder):
                 shutil.copyfile(jsfile, path.join(self.outdir, '_static',
                                                   'translations.js'))
         # then, copy over all user-supplied static files
-        staticdirnames = [path.join(package_dir, 'static')] + \
+        staticdirnames = [path.join(themepath, 'static')
+                          for themepath in self.theme.get_dirchain()[::-1]] + \
                          [path.join(self.confdir, spath)
                           for spath in self.config.html_static_path]
         for staticdirname in staticdirnames:
diff --git a/sphinx/config.py b/sphinx/config.py
index 428c0bf40..a3ae34c51 100644
--- a/sphinx/config.py
+++ b/sphinx/config.py
@@ -53,11 +53,13 @@ class Config(object):
         keep_warnings = (False, True),
 
         # HTML options
+        html_theme = ('default', False),
+        html_theme_path = ([], False),
         html_title = (lambda self: '%s v%s documentation' %
                                    (self.project, self.release),
                       False),
         html_short_title = (lambda self: self.html_title, False),
-        html_style = ('default.css', False),
+        html_style = ('default.css', False),  # XXX
         html_logo = (None, False),
         html_favicon = (None, False),
         html_static_path = ([], False),
diff --git a/sphinx/jinja2glue.py b/sphinx/jinja2glue.py
index 0c7c5d721..fc3efc017 100644
--- a/sphinx/jinja2glue.py
+++ b/sphinx/jinja2glue.py
@@ -18,63 +18,31 @@ from sphinx.util import mtimes_of_files
 from sphinx.application import TemplateBridge
 
 
-class SphinxLoader(jinja2.BaseLoader):
+class BuiltinTemplateLoader(TemplateBridge, jinja2.BaseLoader):
     """
-    A jinja2 reimplementation of `sphinx._jinja.SphinxFileSystemLoader`.
+    Interfaces the rendering environment of jinja2 for use in Sphinx.
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, basepath, extpaths, encoding='utf-8'):
-        """
-        Create a new loader for sphinx.
-
-        *extpaths* is a list of directories, which provide additional templates
-        to sphinx.
-
-        *encoding* is used to decode the templates into unicode strings.
-        Defaults to utf-8.
-
-        If *basepath* is set, this path is used to load sphinx core templates.
-        If False, these templates are loaded from the sphinx package.
-        """
-        self.core_loader = jinja2.FileSystemLoader(basepath)
-        self.all_loaders = jinja2.ChoiceLoader(
-            [jinja2.FileSystemLoader(extpath) for extpath in extpaths] +
-            [self.core_loader])
-
-    def get_source(self, environment, template):
-        # exclamation mark forces loading from core
-        if template.startswith('!'):
-            return self.core_loader.get_source(environment, template[1:])
-        # check if the template is probably an absolute path
-        fs_path = template.replace('/', path.sep)
-        if path.isabs(fs_path):
-            if not path.exists(fs_path):
-                raise jinja2.TemplateNotFound(template)
-            f = codecs.open(fs_path, 'r', self.encoding)
-            try:
-                mtime = path.getmtime(path)
-                return (f.read(), fs_path,
-                        lambda: mtime == path.getmtime(path))
-            finally:
-                f.close()
-        # finally try to load from custom templates
-        return self.all_loaders.get_source(environment, template)
-
-
-class BuiltinTemplates(TemplateBridge):
-    """
-    Interfaces the rendering environment of jinja2 for use in sphinx.
-    """
+    # TemplateBridge interface
 
     def init(self, builder):
-        base_templates_path = path.join(path.dirname(__file__), 'templates')
-        ext_templates_path = [path.join(builder.confdir, dir)
-                              for dir in builder.config.templates_path]
-        self.templates_path = [base_templates_path] + ext_templates_path
-        loader = SphinxLoader(base_templates_path, ext_templates_path)
+        self.theme = builder.theme
+        # create a chain of paths to search:
+        # the theme's own dir and its bases' dirs
+        chain = self.theme.get_dirchain()
+        # then the theme parent paths (XXX doc)
+        chain.extend(self.theme.themepath)
+
+        # prepend explicit template paths
+        if builder.config.templates_path:
+            chain[0:0] = builder.config.templates_path
+
+        # make the paths into loaders
+        self.loaders = map(jinja2.FileSystemLoader, chain)
+
         use_i18n = builder.translator is not None
         extensions = use_i18n and ['jinja2.ext.i18n'] or []
-        self.environment = jinja2.Environment(loader=loader,
+        self.environment = jinja2.Environment(loader=self,
                                               extensions=extensions)
         if use_i18n:
             self.environment.install_gettext_translations(builder.translator)
@@ -83,4 +51,19 @@ class BuiltinTemplates(TemplateBridge):
         return self.environment.get_template(template).render(context)
 
     def newest_template_mtime(self):
-        return max(mtimes_of_files(self.templates_path, '.html'))
+        return max(mtimes_of_files(self.theme.themepath, '.html'))
+
+    # Loader interface
+
+    def get_source(self, environment, template):
+        loaders = self.loaders
+        # exclamation mark starts search from base
+        if template.startswith('!'):
+            loaders = loaders[1:]
+            template = template[1:]
+        for loader in loaders:
+            try:
+                return loader.get_source(environment, template)
+            except jinja2.TemplateNotFound:
+                pass
+        raise jinja2.TemplateNotFound(template)
diff --git a/sphinx/themes/basic/theme.conf b/sphinx/themes/basic/theme.conf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..160cac40d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sphinx/themes/basic/theme.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+[theme]
+inherit = none
+stylesheet = basic.css
+pygments_style = sphinx
diff --git a/sphinx/themes/default/theme.conf b/sphinx/themes/default/theme.conf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0d5ab8eb2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sphinx/themes/default/theme.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[theme]
+inherit = basic
+stylesheet = default.css
diff --git a/sphinx/themes/sphinxdoc/theme.conf b/sphinx/themes/sphinxdoc/theme.conf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cd74cb8a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sphinx/themes/sphinxdoc/theme.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[theme]
+inherit = basic
+stylesheet = sphinxdoc.css 
diff --git a/sphinx/themes/traditional/theme.conf b/sphinx/themes/traditional/theme.conf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..02b77833e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sphinx/themes/traditional/theme.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[theme]
+inherit = basic
+stylesheet = traditional.css
diff --git a/sphinx/theming.py b/sphinx/theming.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9493481c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sphinx/theming.py
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+"""
+    sphinx.theming
+    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+    Theming support for HTML builders.
+
+    :copyright: 2007-2009 by the Sphinx team, see AUTHORS.
+    :license: BSD, see LICENSE for details.
+"""
+
+import os
+import ConfigParser
+from os import path
+
+from sphinx.application import SphinxError
+
+
+THEMECONF = 'theme.conf'
+
+class ThemeError(SphinxError):
+    category = 'Theme error'
+
+
+class Theme(object):
+    """
+    Represents the theme chosen in the configuration.
+    """
+    @classmethod
+    def init_themes(cls, builder):
+        """Search all theme paths for available themes."""
+        cls.themes = {}
+
+        cls.themepath = list(builder.config.html_theme_path)
+        cls.themepath.append(
+            path.join(path.abspath(path.dirname(__file__)), 'themes'))
+
+        for themedir in cls.themepath[::-1]:
+            themedir = path.join(builder.confdir, themedir)
+            if not path.isdir(themedir):
+                continue
+            for theme in os.listdir(themedir):
+                if not path.isfile(path.join(themedir, theme, THEMECONF)):
+                    continue
+                cls.themes[theme] = path.join(themedir, theme)
+
+    def __init__(self, name):
+        if name not in self.themes:
+            raise ThemeError('no theme named %r found' % name)
+        self.name = name
+        self.themedir = self.themes[name]
+
+        self.themeconf = ConfigParser.RawConfigParser()
+        self.themeconf.read(path.join(self.themedir, THEMECONF))
+
+        inherit = self.themeconf.get('theme', 'inherit')
+        if inherit == 'none':
+            self.base = None
+        elif inherit not in self.themes:
+            raise ThemeError('no theme named %r found, inherited by %r' %
+                             (inherit, name))
+        else:
+            self.base = Theme(inherit)
+
+    def get_dirchain(self):
+        """
+        Return a list of theme directories, beginning with this theme's,
+        then the base theme's, then that one's base theme's, etc.
+        """
+        chain = [self.themedir]
+        base = self.base
+        while base is not None:
+            chain.append(base.themedir)
+            base = base.base
+        return chain