diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 5d2e6a9f..29a73670 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ option( ENABLE_UNIT_TESTS "Enable Catch unit tests")
 option( ENABLE_CPP_CORE_GUIDELINES_CHECK "Enable cpp core guideline checks on ngcore" OFF)
 option( USE_SPDLOG "Enable spd log logging" ON)
 option( DEBUG_LOG "Enable more debug output (may increase computation time) - only works with USE_SPDLOG=ON" OFF)
+option( CHECK_RANGE "Check array range access, automatically enabled if built in debug mode" OFF)
 
 option( USE_SUPERBUILD       "use ccache" ON)
 
diff --git a/cmake/SuperBuild.cmake b/cmake/SuperBuild.cmake
index 6e7fabd7..646de088 100644
--- a/cmake/SuperBuild.cmake
+++ b/cmake/SuperBuild.cmake
@@ -144,6 +144,7 @@ set_vars( NETGEN_CMAKE_ARGS
   ENABLE_CPP_CORE_GUIDELINES_CHECK
   USE_SPDLOG
   DEBUG_LOG
+  CHECK_RANGE
   )
 
 # propagate all variables set on the command line using cmake -DFOO=BAR
diff --git a/libsrc/core/CMakeLists.txt b/libsrc/core/CMakeLists.txt
index 8f6cb5ad..805808d5 100644
--- a/libsrc/core/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/libsrc/core/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,11 +1,17 @@
 
-add_library(ngcore SHARED archive.cpp logging.cpp)
+add_library(ngcore SHARED archive.cpp logging.cpp flags.cpp)
 
 target_compile_definitions(ngcore PRIVATE NGCORE_EXPORTS)
 if(NOT WIN32)
   target_compile_options(ngcore PRIVATE -fvisibility=hidden)
 endif(NOT WIN32)
 
+target_compile_definitions(ngcore PUBLIC $<$<CONFIG:DEBUG>:NETGEN_ENABLE_CHECK_RANGE>)
+
+if(CHECK_RANGE)
+  target_compile_definitions(ngcore PUBLIC NETGEN_ENABLE_CHECK_RANGE)
+endif(CHECK_RANGE)
+
 if(USE_SPDLOG)
   include_directories(${SPDLOG_INCLUDE_DIR})
   install(DIRECTORY ${SPDLOG_INCLUDE_DIR}
diff --git a/libsrc/core/exception.hpp b/libsrc/core/exception.hpp
index 248a180f..35359e65 100644
--- a/libsrc/core/exception.hpp
+++ b/libsrc/core/exception.hpp
@@ -51,13 +51,21 @@ namespace ngcore
   {
   public:
     /// where it occurs, index, minimal and maximal indices
-    RangeException (const std::string & where, 
+    RangeException (const std::string & where,
                     int ind, int imin, int imax) : Exception("")
       {
         std::stringstream str;
         str << where << ": index " << ind << " out of range [" << imin << "," << imax << "]\n";
         Append (str.str());
       }
+
+    template<typename T>
+    RangeException(const std::string& where, const T& value)
+    {
+      std::stringstream str;
+      str << where << " called with wrong value " << value << "\n";
+      Append(str.str());
+    }
   };
 
   // Exception used if no simd implementation is available to fall back to standard evaluation
@@ -65,4 +73,18 @@ namespace ngcore
   { public: using Exception::Exception; };
 } // namespace ngcore
 
+#define NETGEN_CORE_NGEXEPTION_STR_HELPER(x) #x
+#define NETGEN_CORE_NGEXEPTION_STR(x) NETGEN_CORE_NGEXEPTION_STR_HELPER(x)
+
+// Convenience macro to append file name and line of exception origin to the string
+#define NG_EXCEPTION(s) ngcore::Exception(__FILE__ ":" NETGEN_CORE_NGEXEPTION_STR(__LINE__) "\t"+std::string(s))
+
+#ifdef NETGEN_ENABLE_CHECK_RANGE
+#define NETGEN_CHECK_RANGE(value, min, max) \
+  { if ((value)<(min) ||  (value)>=(max)) \
+      throw ngcore::RangeException(__FILE__ ":" NETGEN_CORE_NGEXEPTION_STR(__LINE__) "\t", (value), (min), (max)); }
+#else // NETGEN_ENABLE_CHECK_RANGE
+#define NETGEN_CHECK_RANGE(value, min, max)
+#endif // NETGEN_ENABLE_CHECK_RANGE
+
 #endif // NETGEN_CORE_EXCEPTION_HPP