diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/auth/permissions/SimplePermission.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/auth/permissions/SimplePermission.java
index 2e5d40ca1..71e15f481 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/auth/permissions/SimplePermission.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/auth/permissions/SimplePermission.java
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ public class SimplePermission extends Permission {
 	public static final SimplePermission REFRESH_VISUALIZATION_CACHE = new SimplePermission(
 		NAMESPACE + "RefreshVisualizationCache");
 	public static final SimplePermission SEE_CONFIGURATION = new SimplePermission(
-			NAMESPACE + "SeeConfiguration");
+		NAMESPACE + "SeeConfiguration");
 	public static final SimplePermission SEE_INDVIDUAL_EDITING_PANEL = new SimplePermission(
 		NAMESPACE + "SeeIndividualEditingPanel");
 	public static final SimplePermission SEE_REVISION_INFO = new SimplePermission(
@@ -76,6 +76,8 @@ public class SimplePermission extends Permission {
 		NAMESPACE + "UseIndividualControlPanel");
 	public static final SimplePermission USE_SPARQL_QUERY_PAGE = new SimplePermission(
 		NAMESPACE + "UseSparqlQueryPage");
+	public static final SimplePermission USE_SPARQL_QUERY_API = new SimplePermission(
+		NAMESPACE + "UseSparqlQueryApi");
 	public static final SimplePermission USE_SPARQL_UPDATE_API = new SimplePermission(
 		NAMESPACE + "UseSparqlUpdateApi");
 
diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/api/SparqlQueryApiController.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/api/SparqlQueryApiController.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b241fc7f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/api/SparqlQueryApiController.java
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+/* $This file is distributed under the terms of the license in /doc/license.txt$ */
+
+package edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.controller.api;
+
+import static javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse.SC_BAD_REQUEST;
+import static javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse.SC_FORBIDDEN;
+import static javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse.SC_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR;
+import static javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse.SC_NOT_ACCEPTABLE;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import javax.servlet.ServletException;
+import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
+import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
+
+import com.hp.hpl.jena.query.QueryParseException;
+
+import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.auth.permissions.SimplePermission;
+import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.auth.requestedAction.Actions;
+import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.controller.api.sparqlquery.InvalidQueryTypeException;
+import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.controller.api.sparqlquery.SparqlQueryApiExecutor;
+import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.rdfservice.RDFService;
+import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.rdfservice.RDFServiceException;
+import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.rdfservice.impl.RDFServiceUtils;
+import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.utils.http.AcceptHeaderParsingException;
+import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.utils.http.NotAcceptableException;
+
+/**
+ * Process SPARQL queries as an API.
+ * 
+ * Supports GET or POST requests. May produce these responses:
+ * 
+ * <pre>
+ * 200 Success
+ * 400 Failed to parse SPARQL query
+ * 400 SPARQL query type is not SELECT, ASK, CONSTRUCT, or DESCRIBE.
+ * 403 username/password combination is not valid
+ * 403 Account is not authorized
+ * 406 Accept header does not include any available result formats
+ * 500 Unknown error
+ * </pre>
+ */
+public class SparqlQueryApiController extends VitroApiServlet {
+
+	private static final Actions REQUIRED_ACTIONS = SimplePermission.USE_SPARQL_QUERY_API.ACTIONS;
+
+	@Override
+	protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp)
+			throws ServletException, IOException {
+		doPost(req, resp);
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp)
+			throws ServletException, IOException {
+		RDFService rdfService = RDFServiceUtils.getRDFServiceFactory(
+				getServletContext()).getRDFService();
+
+		String acceptHeader = req.getHeader("Accept");
+		String queryString = req.getParameter("query");
+		try {
+			confirmAuthorization(req, REQUIRED_ACTIONS);
+			confirmQueryIsPresent(queryString);
+
+			SparqlQueryApiExecutor core = SparqlQueryApiExecutor.instance(
+					rdfService, queryString, acceptHeader);
+			resp.setContentType(core.getMediaType());
+			core.executeAndFormat(resp.getOutputStream());
+		} catch (AuthException e) {
+			sendShortResponse(SC_FORBIDDEN, e.getMessage(), resp);
+		} catch (BadParameterException e) {
+			sendShortResponse(SC_BAD_REQUEST, e.getMessage(), resp);
+		} catch (InvalidQueryTypeException e) {
+			sendShortResponse(SC_BAD_REQUEST,
+					"Query type is not SELECT, ASK, CONSTRUCT, "
+							+ "or DESCRIBE: '" + queryString + "'", resp);
+		} catch (QueryParseException e) {
+			sendShortResponse(SC_BAD_REQUEST, "Failed to parse query: '"
+					+ queryString + "'", e, resp);
+		} catch (NotAcceptableException | AcceptHeaderParsingException e) {
+			sendShortResponse(SC_NOT_ACCEPTABLE,
+					"The accept header does not include any "
+							+ "available content type.", e, resp);
+		} catch (RDFServiceException e) {
+			sendShortResponse(SC_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR,
+					"Problem executing the query.", e, resp);
+		} catch (Exception e) {
+			sendShortResponse(SC_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR, "Unrecognized error.",
+					e, resp);
+		}
+
+	}
+
+	private void confirmQueryIsPresent(String queryString)
+			throws BadParameterException {
+		if (queryString == null) {
+			throw new BadParameterException("Query string was not supplied.");
+		}
+		if (queryString.trim().isEmpty()) {
+			throw new BadParameterException("Query string is empty.");
+		}
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/api/SparqlUpdateApiController.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/api/SparqlUpdateApiController.java
index 60a0e6af0..fc5bd6d04 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/api/SparqlUpdateApiController.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/api/SparqlUpdateApiController.java
@@ -8,11 +8,9 @@ import static javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse.SC_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR;
 import static javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse.SC_OK;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
-import java.io.PrintWriter;
 
 import javax.servlet.ServletContext;
 import javax.servlet.ServletException;
-import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
 
@@ -28,24 +26,15 @@ import com.hp.hpl.jena.update.UpdateFactory;
 import com.hp.hpl.jena.update.UpdateRequest;
 
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.auth.permissions.SimplePermission;
-import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.auth.policy.PolicyHelper;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.auth.requestedAction.Actions;
-import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.beans.UserAccount;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.controller.VitroRequest;
-import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.controller.authenticate.Authenticator;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.dao.jena.RDFServiceDataset;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.search.indexing.IndexBuilder;
 
 /**
- * This extends HttpServlet instead of VitroHttpServlet because we want to have
- * full control over the response:
- * <ul>
- * <li>No redirecting to the login page if not authorized</li>
- * <li>No redirecting to the home page on insufficient authorization</li>
- * <li>No support for GET or HEAD requests, only POST.</li>
- * </ul>
+ * Process SPARQL Updates, as an API.
  * 
- * So these responses will be produced:
+ * Supports only POST requests, not GET or HEAD. May produce these responses:
  * 
  * <pre>
  * 200 Success
@@ -57,7 +46,7 @@ import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.search.indexing.IndexBuilder;
  * 500 Unknown error
  * </pre>
  */
-public class SparqlUpdateApiController extends HttpServlet {
+public class SparqlUpdateApiController extends VitroApiServlet {
 	private static final Log log = LogFactory
 			.getLog(SparqlUpdateApiController.class);
 
@@ -67,7 +56,7 @@ public class SparqlUpdateApiController extends HttpServlet {
 	protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp)
 			throws ServletException, IOException {
 		try {
-			checkAuthorization(req);
+			confirmAuthorization(req, REQUIRED_ACTIONS);
 			UpdateRequest parsed = parseUpdateString(req);
 			executeUpdate(req, parsed);
 			do200response(resp);
@@ -80,27 +69,6 @@ public class SparqlUpdateApiController extends HttpServlet {
 		}
 	}
 
-	private void checkAuthorization(HttpServletRequest req)
-			throws AuthException {
-		String email = req.getParameter("email");
-		String password = req.getParameter("password");
-
-		Authenticator auth = Authenticator.getInstance(req);
-		UserAccount account = auth.getAccountForInternalAuth(email);
-		if (!auth.isCurrentPassword(account, password)) {
-			log.debug("Invalid: '" + email + "'/'" + password + "'");
-			throw new AuthException("email/password combination is not valid");
-		}
-
-		if (!PolicyHelper.isAuthorizedForActions(req, email, password,
-				REQUIRED_ACTIONS)) {
-			log.debug("Not authorized: '" + email + "'");
-			throw new AuthException("Account is not authorized");
-		}
-
-		log.debug("Authorized for '" + email + "'");
-	}
-
 	private UpdateRequest parseUpdateString(HttpServletRequest req)
 			throws ParseException {
 		String update = req.getParameter("update");
@@ -139,55 +107,32 @@ public class SparqlUpdateApiController extends HttpServlet {
 	}
 
 	private void do200response(HttpServletResponse resp) throws IOException {
-		doResponse(resp, SC_OK, "SPARQL update accepted.");
+		sendShortResponse(SC_OK, "SPARQL update accepted.", resp);
 	}
 
 	private void do403response(HttpServletResponse resp, AuthException e)
 			throws IOException {
-		doResponse(resp, SC_FORBIDDEN, e.getMessage());
+		sendShortResponse( SC_FORBIDDEN, e.getMessage(), resp);
 	}
 
 	private void do400response(HttpServletResponse resp, ParseException e)
 			throws IOException {
 		if (e.getCause() == null) {
-			doResponse(resp, SC_BAD_REQUEST, e.getMessage());
+			sendShortResponse( SC_BAD_REQUEST, e.getMessage(), resp);
 		} else {
-			doResponse(resp, SC_BAD_REQUEST, e.getMessage(), e.getCause());
+			sendShortResponse( SC_BAD_REQUEST, e.getMessage(), e.getCause(), resp);
 		}
 	}
 
 	private void do500response(HttpServletResponse resp, Exception e)
 			throws IOException {
-		doResponse(resp, SC_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR, "Unknown error", e);
-	}
-
-	private void doResponse(HttpServletResponse resp, int statusCode,
-			String message) throws IOException {
-		resp.setStatus(statusCode);
-		PrintWriter writer = resp.getWriter();
-		writer.println("<H1>" + statusCode + " " + message + "</H1>");
-	}
-
-	private void doResponse(HttpServletResponse resp, int statusCode,
-			String message, Throwable e) throws IOException {
-		resp.setStatus(statusCode);
-		PrintWriter writer = resp.getWriter();
-		writer.println("<H1>" + statusCode + " " + message + "</H1>");
-		writer.println("<pre>");
-		e.printStackTrace(writer);
-		writer.println("</pre>");
+		sendShortResponse(SC_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR, "Unknown error", e, resp);
 	}
 
 	// ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 	// Helper classes
 	// ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-	private static class AuthException extends Exception {
-		private AuthException(String message) {
-			super(message);
-		}
-	}
-
 	private static class ParseException extends Exception {
 		private ParseException(String message) {
 			super(message);
diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/api/VitroApiServlet.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/api/VitroApiServlet.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8786b4592
--- /dev/null
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/api/VitroApiServlet.java
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+/* $This file is distributed under the terms of the license in /doc/license.txt$ */
+
+package edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.controller.api;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.PrintWriter;
+
+import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
+import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
+import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
+
+import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
+
+import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.auth.policy.PolicyHelper;
+import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.auth.requestedAction.Actions;
+import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.beans.UserAccount;
+import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.controller.authenticate.Authenticator;
+
+/**
+ * The base class for Vitro servlets that implement the API.
+ * 
+ * We don't want the API servlets to extend VitroHttpServlet, because we want
+ * the following behavior:
+ * <ul>
+ * <li>No redirecting to the login page if not authorized</li>
+ * <li>No redirecting to the home page on insufficient authorization</li>
+ * <li>GET and POST requests are not necessarily equivalent.</li>
+ * </ul>
+ */
+public class VitroApiServlet extends HttpServlet {
+	private static final Log log = LogFactory.getLog(VitroApiServlet.class);
+
+	/**
+	 * If they have not provided an email/password combo that will authorize
+	 * them for this action, throw an AuthException.
+	 */
+	protected void confirmAuthorization(HttpServletRequest req,
+			Actions requiredActions) throws AuthException {
+		String email = req.getParameter("email");
+		String password = req.getParameter("password");
+
+		Authenticator auth = Authenticator.getInstance(req);
+		UserAccount account = auth.getAccountForInternalAuth(email);
+		if (!auth.isCurrentPassword(account, password)) {
+			log.debug("Invalid: '" + email + "'/'" + password + "'");
+			throw new AuthException("email/password combination is not valid");
+		}
+
+		if (!PolicyHelper.isAuthorizedForActions(req, email, password,
+				requiredActions)) {
+			log.debug("Not authorized: '" + email + "'");
+			throw new AuthException("Account is not authorized");
+		}
+
+		log.debug("Authorized for '" + email + "'");
+	}
+
+	protected void sendShortResponse(int statusCode, String message,
+			HttpServletResponse resp) throws IOException {
+		resp.setStatus(statusCode);
+		PrintWriter writer = resp.getWriter();
+		writer.println("<H1>" + statusCode + " " + message + "</H1>");
+	}
+
+	protected void sendShortResponse(int statusCode, String message, Throwable e,
+			HttpServletResponse resp) throws IOException {
+		sendShortResponse(statusCode, message, resp);
+		PrintWriter writer = resp.getWriter();
+		writer.println("<pre>");
+		e.printStackTrace(writer);
+		writer.println("</pre>");
+	}
+
+	// ----------------------------------------------------------------------
+	// Helper classes
+	// ----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+	protected static class AuthException extends Exception {
+		protected AuthException(String message) {
+			super(message);
+		}
+	}
+
+	protected static class BadParameterException extends Exception {
+		protected BadParameterException(String message) {
+			super(message);
+		}
+	}
+	
+}
diff --git a/webapp/web/WEB-INF/web.xml b/webapp/web/WEB-INF/web.xml
index 8fb110bf1..a1aeaad87 100644
--- a/webapp/web/WEB-INF/web.xml
+++ b/webapp/web/WEB-INF/web.xml
@@ -1034,6 +1034,16 @@
     <url-pattern>/admin/sparqlquery</url-pattern>
   </servlet-mapping>
   
+  <servlet>
+    <servlet-name>SparqlQueryApi</servlet-name>
+    <servlet-class>edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.controller.api.SparqlQueryApiController</servlet-class>
+  </servlet>
+
+  <servlet-mapping>
+    <servlet-name>SparqlQueryApi</servlet-name>
+    <url-pattern>/api/sparqlQuery</url-pattern>
+  </servlet-mapping>
+  
   <servlet>
     <servlet-name>SparqlUpdateApi</servlet-name>
     <servlet-class>edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.controller.api.SparqlUpdateApiController</servlet-class>