diff --git a/files/apts/general b/files/apts/general
index c308c466e3..3fe7863de2 100644
--- a/files/apts/general
+++ b/files/apts/general
@@ -27,3 +27,4 @@ bc
 libyaml-dev
 libffi-dev
 libssl-dev # for pyOpenSSL
+gettext  # used for compiling message catalogs
diff --git a/files/rpms/general b/files/rpms/general
index 7a35961bc2..d4a9fcba55 100644
--- a/files/rpms/general
+++ b/files/rpms/general
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ wget
 which
 bc
 libyaml-devel
+gettext  # used for compiling message catalogs
 
 # [1] : some of installed tools have unversioned dependencies on this,
 # but others have versioned (<=0.7).  So if a later version (0.7.1)
diff --git a/lib/horizon b/lib/horizon
index 755be18f3c..0213948633 100644
--- a/lib/horizon
+++ b/lib/horizon
@@ -84,6 +84,14 @@ function cleanup_horizon {
 # configure_horizon() - Set config files, create data dirs, etc
 function configure_horizon {
     setup_develop $HORIZON_DIR
+
+    # Compile message catalogs.
+    # Horizon is installed as develop mode, so we can compile here.
+    # Message catalog compilation is handled by Django admin script,
+    # so compiling them after the installation avoids Django installation twice.
+    cd $HORIZON_DIR
+    ./run_tests.sh -N --compilemessages
+    cd -
 }
 
 # init_horizon() - Initialize databases, etc.
@@ -138,6 +146,13 @@ function init_horizon {
 # install_django_openstack_auth() - Collect source and prepare
 function install_django_openstack_auth {
     git_clone $HORIZONAUTH_REPO $HORIZONAUTH_DIR $HORIZONAUTH_BRANCH
+
+    # Compile message catalogs before installation
+    _prepare_message_catalog_compilation
+    cd $HORIZONAUTH_DIR
+    python setup.py compile_catalog
+    cd -
+
     setup_install $HORIZONAUTH_DIR
 }
 
@@ -160,6 +175,13 @@ function stop_horizon {
     stop_apache_server
 }
 
+# NOTE: It can be moved to common functions, but it is only used by compilation
+# of django_openstack_auth catalogs at the moment.
+function _prepare_message_catalog_compilation {
+    local babel_package=$(grep ^Babel $REQUIREMENTS_DIR/global-requirements.txt)
+    pip_install "$babel_package"
+}
+
 
 # Restore xtrace
 $XTRACE