diff --git a/gnu/local.mk b/gnu/local.mk
index 7641d2a0176..1f3399ce1cb 100644
--- a/gnu/local.mk
+++ b/gnu/local.mk
@@ -1603,6 +1603,7 @@ dist_patch_DATA =						\
   %D%/packages/patches/idris-test-ffi008.patch			\
   %D%/packages/patches/ilmbase-fix-tests.patch			\
   %D%/packages/patches/inferno-fix-crash.patch		\
+  %D%/packages/patches/inkscape-libxml2.patch		\
   %D%/packages/patches/instead-use-games-path.patch		\
   %D%/packages/patches/intltool-perl-compatibility.patch	\
   %D%/packages/patches/inetutils-hurd64.patch			\
diff --git a/gnu/packages/inkscape.scm b/gnu/packages/inkscape.scm
index b1b03928d06..a06e61294f1 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/inkscape.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/inkscape.scm
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 ;;; Copyright © 2020 Boris A. Dekshteyn <boris.dekshteyn@gmail.com>
 ;;; Copyright © 2020 Ekaitz Zarraga <ekaitz@elenq.tech>
 ;;; Copyright © 2023, 2024 Efraim Flashner <efraim@flashner.co.il>
+;;; Copyright © 2025 John Kehayias <john@guixotic.coop>
 ;;;
 ;;; This file is part of GNU Guix.
 ;;;
@@ -78,6 +79,7 @@
          (base32 "0sq81smxwypgnp7r3wgza8w25dsz9qa8ga79sc85xzj3qi6q9lfv"))
         (modules '((guix build utils)
                    (ice-9 format)))
+        (patches (search-patches "inkscape-libxml2.patch"))
         (snippet
          '(begin
             (let-syntax
diff --git a/gnu/packages/patches/inkscape-libxml2.patch b/gnu/packages/patches/inkscape-libxml2.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..dc5b0f53460
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gnu/packages/patches/inkscape-libxml2.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+From 694d8ae43d06efff21adebf377ce614d660b24cd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Christian Hesse <mail@eworm.de>
+Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2023 22:30:42 +0100
+Subject: [PATCH] include missing header file
+MIME-Version: 1.0
+Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
+Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
+
+This fixes build error:
+```
+/build/inkscape/src/inkscape/src/object/uri.cpp: In constructor ‘Inkscape::URI::URI(const gchar*, const char*)’:
+/build/inkscape/src/inkscape/src/object/uri.cpp:86:9: error: ‘xmlFree’ was not declared in this scope; did you mean ‘xmlFreeURI’?
+   86 |         xmlFree(full);
+```
+---
+ src/object/uri.h | 1 +
+ 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)
+
+diff --git a/src/object/uri.h b/src/object/uri.h
+index 381adec58cf..d5b211fe2b2 100644
+--- a/src/object/uri.h
++++ b/src/object/uri.h
+@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
+ #define INKSCAPE_URI_H
+ 
+ #include <libxml/uri.h>
++#include <libxml/xmlmemory.h>
+ #include <memory>
+ #include <string>
+ 
+-- 
+GitLab
+