diff --git a/skimage/filters/__init__.py b/skimage/filters/__init__.py
index 9dd0b4df..708f5d53 100644
--- a/skimage/filters/__init__.py
+++ b/skimage/filters/__init__.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ from .edges import (sobel, hsobel, vsobel, sobel_h, sobel_v,
                     prewitt, hprewitt, vprewitt, prewitt_h, prewitt_v,
                     roberts, roberts_positive_diagonal,
                     roberts_negative_diagonal, roberts_pos_diag,
-                    roberts_neg_diag)
+                    roberts_neg_diag, laplace)
 from ._rank_order import rank_order
 from ._gabor import gabor_kernel, gabor
 from .thresholding import (threshold_adaptive, threshold_otsu, threshold_yen,
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ __all__ = ['inverse',
            'roberts_negative_diagonal',
            'roberts_pos_diag',
            'roberts_neg_diag',
+           'laplace',
            'denoise_tv_chambolle',
            'denoise_bilateral',
            'denoise_tv_bregman',
diff --git a/skimage/filters/edges.py b/skimage/filters/edges.py
index 1eeed4de..501dd8ea 100644
--- a/skimage/filters/edges.py
+++ b/skimage/filters/edges.py
@@ -37,6 +37,9 @@ ROBERTS_PD_WEIGHTS = np.array([[1, 0],
 ROBERTS_ND_WEIGHTS = np.array([[0, 1],
                                [-1, 0]], dtype=np.double)
 
+LAPLACE_WEIGHTS = np.array([[1,  1,  1],
+                            [1, -8,  1],
+                            [1,  1,  1]]) / 16.0
 
 def _mask_filter_result(result, mask):
     """Return result after masking.
@@ -762,3 +765,34 @@ def roberts_negative_diagonal(image, mask=None):
 
     """
     return np.abs(roberts_neg_diag(image, mask))
+
+def laplace(image, mask=None):
+    """Find the edges of an image using the Laplace operator.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    image : 2-D array
+        Image to process.
+    mask : 2-D array, optional
+        An optional mask to limit the application to a certain area.
+        Note that pixels surrounding masked regions are also masked to
+        prevent masked regions from affecting the result.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    output : 2-D array
+        The Laplace edge map.
+
+    Notes
+    -----
+    We use the following kernel::
+
+      1   1   1
+      1  -8   1
+      1   1   1
+
+    """
+    assert_nD(image, 2)
+    image = img_as_float(image)
+    result = convolve(image, LAPLACE_WEIGHTS)
+    return _mask_filter_result(result, mask)
diff --git a/skimage/filters/tests/test_edges.py b/skimage/filters/tests/test_edges.py
index d2c0f469..2754cbe8 100644
--- a/skimage/filters/tests/test_edges.py
+++ b/skimage/filters/tests/test_edges.py
@@ -335,6 +335,20 @@ def test_vprewitt_horizontal():
     assert_allclose(result, 0)
 
 
+def test_laplace_zeros():
+    """Laplace on an array of all zeros."""
+    result = filters.laplace(np.zeros((10, 10)), np.ones((10, 10), bool))
+    assert (np.all(result == 0))
+
+
+def test_laplace_mask():
+    """Laplace on a masked array should be zero."""
+    np.random.seed(0)
+    result = filters.laplace(np.random.uniform(size=(10, 10)),
+                             np.zeros((10, 10), bool))
+    assert (np.all(result == 0))
+
+
 def test_horizontal_mask_line():
     """Horizontal edge filters mask pixels surrounding input mask."""
     vgrad, _ = np.mgrid[:1:11j, :1:11j]  # vertical gradient with spacing 0.1
@@ -351,7 +365,6 @@ def test_horizontal_mask_line():
         result = grad_func(vgrad, mask)
         yield assert_close, result, expected
 
-
 def test_vertical_mask_line():
     """Vertical edge filters mask pixels surrounding input mask."""
     _, hgrad = np.mgrid[:1:11j, :1:11j]  # horizontal gradient with spacing 0.1