diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/java/xerces/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/java/xerces/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..8dcc15172997
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/java/xerces/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+{ fetchurl, stdenv, ant, javac, jvm }:
+
+let
+  version = "2.9.1";
+  tools   = fetchurl {
+    url = "mirror://apache/xerces/j/source/Xerces-J-tools.${version}.tar.gz";
+    sha256 = "1zzbq9ijy0f3v8w2sws9w79bkda34m9i01993md94n8fccnkiwac";
+  };
+  options = "-Dbuild.compiler=gcj";   # FIXME: We assume GCJ here.
+in
+  stdenv.mkDerivation {
+    name = "xerces-j-${version}";
+
+    src = fetchurl {
+      url = "mirror://apache/xerces/j/source/Xerces-J-src.2.9.1.tar.gz";
+      sha256 = "14h5jp58999f0rg4mkyab015hkgsxa8n6cx53ia0sjialxi01bqk";
+    };
+
+    buildInputs = [ ant javac jvm ];
+
+    configurePhase = "tar xzvf ${tools}";
+    buildPhase     = "ant ${options} jar";
+
+    # The `tests' directory is missing from the tarball.
+    doCheck = false;
+
+    # FIXME: Install javadoc as well.
+    installPhase =
+      '' ensureDir "$out/lib/java"
+         cp -v build/xerces*.jar "$out/lib/java"
+      '';
+
+    meta = {
+      description = "Apache Xerces, an XML parser for Java";
+
+      longDescription =
+        '' Xerces2 Java is a library for parsing, validating and manipulating
+           XML documents.
+
+           Xerces 2.x introduced the Xerces Native Interface (XNI), a
+           complete framework for building parser components and
+           configurations that is extremely modular and easy to program.  XNI
+           is merely an internal set of interfaces.  There is no need for an
+           XML application programmer to learn XNI if they only intend to
+           interface to the Xerces2 parser using standard interfaces like
+           JAXP, DOM, and SAX.  Xerces developers and application developers
+           that need more power and flexibility than that provided by the
+           standard interfaces should read and understand XNI.
+        '';
+
+      homepage = http://xerces.apache.org/xerces2-j/;
+
+      license = "Apache-2.0";
+
+      maintainers = [ stdenv.lib.maintainers.ludo ];
+    };
+  }
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 5a2218a36d4a..af335c95ae0a 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -4426,6 +4426,13 @@ let
     inherit (xlibs) libXScrnSaver scrnsaverproto;
   };
 
+  xercesJava = import ../development/libraries/java/xerces {
+    inherit fetchurl stdenv;
+    ant   = apacheAntGcj;  # for bootstrap purposes
+    javac = gcj;
+    jvm   = gcj;
+  };
+
   xlibsWrapper = import ../development/libraries/xlibs-wrapper {
     inherit stdenv;
     packages = [