diff --git a/app/controllers/application.rb b/app/controllers/application.rb
index 09219455..2540e8a3 100644
--- a/app/controllers/application.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/application.rb
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
   # implements Instiki's legacy URLs
   require 'url_rewriting_hack'
 
+  before_filter :set_utf8_http_header
   after_filter :remember_location
 
   # For injecting a different wiki model implementation. Intended for use in tests
@@ -31,7 +32,6 @@ class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
   @@REMEMBER_NOT = ['locked', 'save']
   
   def remember_location
-logger.debug @request.method
     if @response.headers['Status'] == '200 OK'
       unless @@REMEMBER_NOT.include? action_name or @request.method != :get
         @session[:return_to] = url_for 
@@ -54,4 +54,8 @@ logger.debug @request.method
     end
   end
 
+  def set_utf8_http_header
+    @response.headers['Content-Type'] = 'text/html; charset=UTF-8'
+  end
+
 end
diff --git a/test/functional/application_test.rb b/test/functional/application_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..84767958
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/functional/application_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+# Unit tests for ApplicationController (the abstract controller class)
+
+require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../test_helper'
+require 'wiki_controller'
+require 'rexml/document'
+
+# Need some concrete class to test the abstract class features
+class WikiController; def rescue_action(e) logger.error(e); raise e end; end
+
+class ApplicationTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
+
+  def setup
+    setup_test_wiki
+    setup_controller_test(WikiController)
+  end
+
+  def tear_down
+    tear_down_wiki
+  end
+
+  def test_utf8_header
+    r = process('show', 'web' => 'wiki1', 'id' => 'HomePage')
+    assert_equal 'text/html; charset=UTF-8', r.headers['Content-Type']
+  end
+
+end