diff --git a/docs/i3bar-protocol b/docs/i3bar-protocol
index 8fd51ae9..ccc76346 100644
--- a/docs/i3bar-protocol
+++ b/docs/i3bar-protocol
@@ -172,6 +172,10 @@ separator_block_width::
 	this gap, a separator line will be drawn unless +separator+ is
 	disabled. Normally, you want to set this to an odd value (the default
 	is 9 pixels), since the separator line is drawn in the middle.
+markup::
+	A string that indicates how the text of the block should be parsed. Set to
+	+"pango"+ to use https://developer.gnome.org/pango/stable/PangoMarkupFormat.html[Pango markup]
+	(default). Set to +"none"+ to not use any markup.
 
 If you want to put in your own entries into a block, prefix the key with an
 underscore (_). i3bar will ignore all keys it doesn’t understand, and prefixing
diff --git a/i3bar/include/common.h b/i3bar/include/common.h
index 3744df27..22b9a28a 100644
--- a/i3bar/include/common.h
+++ b/i3bar/include/common.h
@@ -38,11 +38,18 @@ struct status_block {
     i3String *short_text;
 
     char *color;
+
+    /* min_width can be specified either as a numeric value (in pixels) or as a
+     * string. For strings, we set min_width to the measured text width of
+     * min_width_str. */
     uint32_t min_width;
+    char *min_width_str;
+
     blockalign_t align;
 
     bool urgent;
     bool no_separator;
+    bool is_markup;
 
     /* The amount of pixels necessary to render a separater after the block. */
     uint32_t sep_block_width;
diff --git a/i3bar/src/child.c b/i3bar/src/child.c
index 894bd4a3..402e6351 100644
--- a/i3bar/src/child.c
+++ b/i3bar/src/child.c
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ static void clear_statusline(struct statusline_head *head, bool free_resources)
             FREE(first->color);
             FREE(first->name);
             FREE(first->instance);
+            FREE(first->min_width_str);
         }
 
         TAILQ_REMOVE(head, first, blocks);
@@ -163,6 +164,9 @@ static int stdin_start_map(void *context) {
     /* Default width of the separator block. */
     ctx->block.sep_block_width = logical_px(9);
 
+    /* Use markup by default */
+    ctx->block.is_markup = true;
+
     return 1;
 }
 
@@ -195,6 +199,9 @@ static int stdin_string(void *context, const unsigned char *val, size_t len) {
     if (strcasecmp(ctx->last_map_key, "color") == 0) {
         sasprintf(&(ctx->block.color), "%.*s", len, val);
     }
+    if (strcasecmp(ctx->last_map_key, "markup") == 0) {
+        ctx->block.is_markup = (len == strlen("pango") && !strncasecmp((const char *)val, "pango", strlen("pango")));
+    }
     if (strcasecmp(ctx->last_map_key, "align") == 0) {
         if (len == strlen("center") && !strncmp((const char *)val, "center", strlen("center"))) {
             ctx->block.align = ALIGN_CENTER;
@@ -204,9 +211,10 @@ static int stdin_string(void *context, const unsigned char *val, size_t len) {
             ctx->block.align = ALIGN_LEFT;
         }
     } else if (strcasecmp(ctx->last_map_key, "min_width") == 0) {
-        i3String *text = i3string_from_markup_with_length((const char *)val, len);
-        ctx->block.min_width = (uint32_t)predict_text_width(text);
-        i3string_free(text);
+        char *copy = (char *)malloc(len + 1);
+        strncpy(copy, (const char *)val, len);
+        copy[len] = 0;
+        ctx->block.min_width_str = copy;
     }
     if (strcasecmp(ctx->last_map_key, "name") == 0) {
         char *copy = (char *)malloc(len + 1);
@@ -248,6 +256,17 @@ static int stdin_end_map(void *context) {
         new_block->full_text = i3string_from_utf8("SPEC VIOLATION: full_text is NULL!");
     if (new_block->urgent)
         ctx->has_urgent = true;
+
+    if (new_block->min_width_str) {
+        i3String *text = i3string_from_utf8(new_block->min_width_str);
+        i3string_set_markup(text, new_block->is_markup);
+        new_block->min_width = (uint32_t)predict_text_width(text);
+        i3string_free(text);
+    }
+
+    i3string_set_markup(new_block->full_text, new_block->is_markup);
+    i3string_set_markup(new_block->short_text, new_block->is_markup);
+
     TAILQ_INSERT_TAIL(&statusline_buffer, new_block, blocks);
     return 1;
 }
diff --git a/include/libi3.h b/include/libi3.h
index b60dda5c..c8d2e956 100644
--- a/include/libi3.h
+++ b/include/libi3.h
@@ -217,6 +217,11 @@ size_t i3string_get_num_bytes(i3String *str);
  */
 bool i3string_is_markup(i3String *str);
 
+/**
+ * Set whether the i3String should use Pango markup.
+ */
+void i3string_set_markup(i3String *str, bool is_markup);
+
 /**
  * Returns the number of glyphs in an i3String.
  *
diff --git a/libi3/string.c b/libi3/string.c
index 88fd1986..e6297f9e 100644
--- a/libi3/string.c
+++ b/libi3/string.c
@@ -178,6 +178,13 @@ bool i3string_is_markup(i3String *str) {
     return str->is_markup;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Set whether the i3String should use Pango markup.
+ */
+void i3string_set_markup(i3String *str, bool is_markup) {
+    str->is_markup = is_markup;
+}
+
 /*
  * Returns the number of glyphs in an i3String.
  *