diff --git a/gtk/gtk.symbols b/gtk/gtk.symbols
index ba61ba3c2f..bf2e861bbd 100644
--- a/gtk/gtk.symbols
+++ b/gtk/gtk.symbols
@@ -4998,6 +4998,7 @@ gtk_widget_get_tooltip_text
 gtk_widget_get_tooltip_window
 gtk_widget_get_toplevel
 gtk_widget_get_type G_GNUC_CONST
+gtk_widget_get_visible
 gtk_widget_get_visual
 gtk_widget_grab_default
 gtk_widget_grab_focus
@@ -5076,6 +5077,7 @@ gtk_widget_set_style
 gtk_widget_set_tooltip_markup
 gtk_widget_set_tooltip_text
 gtk_widget_set_tooltip_window
+gtk_widget_set_visible
 gtk_widget_shape_combine_mask
 gtk_widget_input_shape_combine_mask
 gtk_widget_show
diff --git a/gtk/gtkwidget.c b/gtk/gtkwidget.c
index a81dc2debc..28422b2e28 100644
--- a/gtk/gtkwidget.c
+++ b/gtk/gtkwidget.c
@@ -5577,6 +5577,58 @@ gtk_widget_get_state (GtkWidget *widget)
   return widget->state;
 }
 
+/**
+ * gtk_widget_set_visible:
+ * @widget: a #GtkWidget
+ * @visible: whether the widget should be shown or not
+ *
+ * Sets the visibility state of @widget. Note that setting this to
+ * %TRUE doesn't mean the widget is actually viewable, see
+ * gtk_widget_get_visible().
+ *
+ * This function simply calls gtk_widget_show() or gtk_widget_hide()
+ * but is nicer to use when the visibility of the widget depends on
+ * some condition.
+ *
+ * Since: 2.18
+ **/
+void
+gtk_widget_set_visible (GtkWidget *widget,
+                        gboolean   visible)
+{
+  g_return_if_fail (GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget));
+
+  if (visible != GTK_WIDGET_VISIBLE (widget))
+    {
+      if (visible)
+        gtk_widget_show (widget);
+      else
+        gtk_widget_hide (widget);
+    }
+}
+
+/**
+ * gtk_widget_get_visible:
+ * @widget: a #GtkWidget
+ *
+ * Determines whether the widget is visible. Note that this doesn't
+ * take into account whether the widget's parent is also visible
+ * or the widget is obscured in any way.
+ *
+ * See gtk_widget_set_visible().
+ *
+ * Return value: %TRUE if the widget is visible
+ *
+ * Since: 2.18
+ **/
+gboolean
+gtk_widget_get_visible (GtkWidget *widget)
+{
+  g_return_val_if_fail (GTK_IS_WIDGET (widget), FALSE);
+
+  return (GTK_WIDGET_FLAGS (widget) & GTK_VISIBLE) != 0;
+}
+
 /**
  * gtk_widget_set_has_window:
  * @widget: a #GtkWidget
diff --git a/gtk/gtkwidget.h b/gtk/gtkwidget.h
index e074baa860..d5de8bd13c 100644
--- a/gtk/gtkwidget.h
+++ b/gtk/gtkwidget.h
@@ -574,6 +574,10 @@ void                  gtk_widget_set_sensitive          (GtkWidget    *widget,
 gboolean              gtk_widget_get_sensitive          (GtkWidget    *widget);
 gboolean              gtk_widget_is_sensitive           (GtkWidget    *widget);
 
+void                  gtk_widget_set_visible            (GtkWidget    *widget,
+                                                         gboolean      visible);
+gboolean              gtk_widget_get_visible            (GtkWidget    *widget);
+
 void                  gtk_widget_set_has_window         (GtkWidget    *widget,
                                                          gboolean      has_window);
 gboolean              gtk_widget_get_has_window         (GtkWidget    *widget);