diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5a022dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+# mpfr
+
+The [MPFR library](https://www.mpfr.org/) is a C library for
+multiple-precision floating-point computations with _correct rounding_.  MPFR
+has continuously been supported by [INRIA](https://www.inria.fr/) and the
+current main authors come from the [Caramba](https://caramba.loria.fr/) and
+[AriC](http://www.ens-lyon.fr/LIP/AriC/) project teams at
+[Loria](https://www.loria.fr/) (Nancy, France) and
+[LIP](http://www.ens-lyon.fr/LIP/) (Lyon, France) respectively; see more on
+the [credit page](https://www.mpfr.org/credit.html).  MPFR is based on the
+[GMP](https://gmplib.org/) multiple-precision library.
+
+The main goal of MPFR is to provide a library for multiple-precision
+floating-point computation which is both efficient and has a well-defined
+semantics.  It copies the good ideas from the ANSI/IEEE-754 standard for
+double-precision floating-point arithmetic (53-bit significand).