diff --git a/src/misc/lock.c b/src/misc/lock.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b321f5fbd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/misc/lock.c
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+/* Copyright 2024. Institute of Biomedical Imaging. TU Graz.
+ * All rights reserved. Use of this source code is governed by
+ * a BSD-style license which can be found in the LICENSE file.
+ *
+ * Authors:
+ * 2024 Philip Schaten <philip.schaten@tugraz.at>
+ */
+
+#ifdef _OPENMP
+#include <omp.h>
+#endif
+
+#include "misc/misc.h"
+
+#include "lock.h"
+
+struct bart_lock {
+#ifdef _OPENMP
+	omp_lock_t omp;
+#else
+	int dummy;
+#endif
+};
+
+void bart_lock(bart_lock_t* lock)
+{
+#ifdef _OPENMP
+	omp_set_lock(&lock->omp);
+#endif
+}
+
+void bart_unlock(bart_lock_t* lock)
+{
+#ifdef _OPENMP
+	omp_unset_lock(&lock->omp);
+#endif
+}
+
+bart_lock_t* bart_lock_create(void)
+{
+	bart_lock_t* lock = xmalloc(sizeof *lock);
+
+#ifdef _OPENMP
+	omp_init_lock(&lock->omp);
+#endif
+	return lock;
+}
+
+void bart_lock_destroy(bart_lock_t* lock)
+{
+#ifdef _OPENMP
+	omp_destroy_lock(&lock->omp);
+#endif
+	xfree(lock);
+}
+
diff --git a/src/misc/lock.h b/src/misc/lock.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d0b3f08e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/misc/lock.h
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+
+typedef struct bart_lock bart_lock_t;
+
+void bart_lock(bart_lock_t* lock);
+void bart_unlock(bart_lock_t* lock);
+void bart_lock_destroy(bart_lock_t* x);
+bart_lock_t* bart_lock_create(void);
+