diff --git a/nalgebra-sparse/Cargo.toml b/nalgebra-sparse/Cargo.toml
index 3a4f08c1..988850d2 100644
--- a/nalgebra-sparse/Cargo.toml
+++ b/nalgebra-sparse/Cargo.toml
@@ -17,3 +17,5 @@ proptest = { version = "0.10", optional = true }
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 itertools = "0.9"
+matrixcompare = "0.1.3"
+nalgebra = { version="0.23", path = "../", features = ["compare"] }
diff --git a/nalgebra-sparse/src/csc.rs b/nalgebra-sparse/src/csc.rs
index f77bfaef..11b96a6f 100644
--- a/nalgebra-sparse/src/csc.rs
+++ b/nalgebra-sparse/src/csc.rs
@@ -115,7 +115,6 @@ impl<T> CscMatrix<T> {
         }
     }
 
-
     /// An iterator over non-zero triplets (i, j, v).
     ///
     /// The iteration happens in column-major fashion, meaning that j increases monotonically,
diff --git a/nalgebra-sparse/src/factorization/cholesky.rs b/nalgebra-sparse/src/factorization/cholesky.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3e9c032e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nalgebra-sparse/src/factorization/cholesky.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,294 @@
+// TODO: Remove this allowance
+#![allow(missing_docs)]
+
+use crate::pattern::SparsityPattern;
+use crate::csc::CscMatrix;
+use core::{mem, iter};
+use nalgebra::{U1, VectorN, Dynamic, Scalar, RealField};
+use num_traits::Zero;
+use std::sync::Arc;
+use std::ops::Add;
+
+pub struct CscSymbolicCholesky {
+    // Pattern of the original matrix that was decomposed
+    m_pattern: Arc<SparsityPattern>,
+    l_pattern: SparsityPattern,
+    // u in this context is L^T, so that M = L L^T
+    u_pattern: SparsityPattern
+}
+
+impl CscSymbolicCholesky {
+    pub fn factor(pattern: &Arc<SparsityPattern>) -> Self {
+        assert_eq!(pattern.major_dim(), pattern.minor_dim(),
+            "Major and minor dimensions must be the same (square matrix).");
+
+        // TODO: Temporary stopgap solution to make things work until we can refactor
+        #[derive(Copy, Clone, PartialEq, Eq, Debug)]
+        struct DummyVal;
+        impl Zero for DummyVal {
+            fn zero() -> Self {
+                DummyVal
+            }
+
+            fn is_zero(&self) -> bool {
+                true
+            }
+        }
+
+        impl Add<DummyVal> for DummyVal {
+            type Output = Self;
+
+            fn add(self, rhs: DummyVal) -> Self::Output {
+                rhs
+            }
+        }
+
+        let dummy_vals = vec![DummyVal; pattern.nnz()];
+        let dummy_csc = CscMatrix::try_from_pattern_and_values(Arc::clone(pattern), dummy_vals)
+            .unwrap();
+        let (l, u) = nonzero_pattern(&dummy_csc);
+        // TODO: Don't clone unnecessarily
+        Self {
+            m_pattern: Arc::clone(pattern),
+            l_pattern: l.pattern().as_ref().clone(),
+            u_pattern: u.pattern().as_ref().clone()
+        }
+    }
+
+    pub fn l_pattern(&self) -> &SparsityPattern {
+        &self.l_pattern
+    }
+}
+
+pub struct CscCholesky<T> {
+    // Pattern of the original matrix
+    m_pattern: Arc<SparsityPattern>,
+    l_factor: CscMatrix<T>,
+    u_pattern: SparsityPattern,
+    work_x: Vec<T>,
+    work_c: Vec<usize>
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Eq, Clone)]
+pub enum CholeskyError {
+
+}
+
+impl<T: RealField> CscCholesky<T> {
+
+    pub fn factor(matrix: &CscMatrix<T>) -> Result<Self, CholeskyError> {
+        let symbolic = CscSymbolicCholesky::factor(&*matrix.pattern());
+        assert_eq!(symbolic.l_pattern.nnz(), symbolic.u_pattern.nnz(),
+            "u is just the transpose of l, so should have the same nnz");
+
+        let l_nnz = symbolic.l_pattern.nnz();
+        let l_values = vec![T::zero(); l_nnz];
+        let l_factor = CscMatrix::try_from_pattern_and_values(Arc::new(symbolic.l_pattern), l_values)
+            .unwrap();
+
+        let mut factorization = CscCholesky {
+            m_pattern: symbolic.m_pattern,
+            l_factor,
+            u_pattern: symbolic.u_pattern,
+            work_x: vec![T::zero(); matrix.nrows()],
+            // Fill with MAX so that things hopefully totally fail if values are not
+            // overwritten. Might be easier to debug this way
+            work_c: vec![usize::MAX, matrix.ncols()],
+        };
+
+        factorization.refactor(matrix.values())?;
+        Ok(factorization)
+    }
+
+    pub fn refactor(&mut self, values: &[T]) -> Result<(), CholeskyError> {
+        self.decompose_left_looking(values)
+    }
+
+    pub fn l(&self) -> &CscMatrix<T> {
+        &self.l_factor
+    }
+
+    pub fn take_l(self)  -> CscMatrix<T> {
+        self.l_factor
+    }
+
+    /// Perform a numerical left-looking cholesky decomposition of a matrix with the same structure as the
+    /// one used to initialize `self`, but with different non-zero values provided by `values`.
+    fn decompose_left_looking(&mut self, values: &[T]) -> Result<(), CholeskyError> {
+        assert!(
+            values.len() >= self.m_pattern.nnz(),
+            // TODO: Improve error message
+            "The set of values is too small."
+        );
+
+        let n = self.l_factor.nrows();
+
+        // Reset `work_c` to the column pointers of `l`.
+        self.work_c.clear();
+        self.work_c.extend_from_slice(self.l_factor.col_offsets());
+
+        unsafe {
+            for k in 0..n {
+                // Scatter the k-th column of the original matrix with the values provided.
+                let range_begin = *self.m_pattern.major_offsets().get_unchecked(k);
+                let range_end = *self.m_pattern.major_offsets().get_unchecked(k + 1);
+                let range_k = range_begin..range_end;
+
+                *self.work_x.get_unchecked_mut(k) = T::zero();
+                for p in range_k.clone() {
+                    let irow = *self.m_pattern.minor_indices().get_unchecked(p);
+
+                    if irow >= k {
+                        *self.work_x.get_unchecked_mut(irow) = *values.get_unchecked(p);
+                    }
+                }
+
+                for &j in self.u_pattern.lane(k) {
+                    let factor = -*self
+                        .l_factor
+                        .values()
+                        .get_unchecked(*self.work_c.get_unchecked(j));
+                    *self.work_c.get_unchecked_mut(j) += 1;
+
+                    if j < k {
+                        let col_j = self.l_factor.col(j);
+                        let col_j_entries = col_j.row_indices().iter().zip(col_j.values());
+                        for (&z, val) in col_j_entries {
+                            if z >= k {
+                                *self.work_x.get_unchecked_mut(z) += val.inlined_clone() * factor;
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+
+                let diag = *self.work_x.get_unchecked(k);
+
+                if diag > T::zero() {
+                    let denom = diag.sqrt();
+
+                    {
+                        let (offsets, _, values) = self.l_factor.csc_data_mut();
+                        *values
+                            .get_unchecked_mut(*offsets.get_unchecked(k)) = denom;
+                    }
+
+
+                    let mut col_k = self.l_factor.col_mut(k);
+                    let (col_k_rows, col_k_values) = col_k.rows_and_values_mut();
+                    let col_k_entries = col_k_rows.iter().zip(col_k_values);
+                    for (&p, val) in col_k_entries {
+                        *val = *self.work_x.get_unchecked(p) / denom;
+                        *self.work_x.get_unchecked_mut(p) = T::zero();
+                    }
+                } else {
+                    // self.ok = false;
+                    // TODO: Return indefinite error (i.e. encountered non-positive diagonal
+                    unimplemented!()
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
+}
+
+
+
+
+fn reach<T>(
+    m: &CscMatrix<T>,
+    j: usize,
+    max_j: usize,
+    tree: &[usize],
+    marks: &mut Vec<bool>,
+    out: &mut Vec<usize>,
+) {
+    marks.clear();
+    marks.resize(tree.len(), false);
+
+    // TODO: avoid all those allocations.
+    let mut tmp = Vec::new();
+    let mut res = Vec::new();
+
+    for &irow in m.col(j).row_indices() {
+        let mut curr = irow;
+        while curr != usize::max_value() && curr <= max_j && !marks[curr] {
+            marks[curr] = true;
+            tmp.push(curr);
+            curr = tree[curr];
+        }
+
+        tmp.append(&mut res);
+        mem::swap(&mut tmp, &mut res);
+    }
+
+    // TODO: Is this right?
+    res.sort_unstable();
+
+    out.append(&mut res);
+}
+
+fn nonzero_pattern<T: Scalar + Zero>(
+    m: &CscMatrix<T>
+) -> (CscMatrix<T>, CscMatrix<T>) {
+    // TODO: In order to stay as faithful as possible to the original implementation,
+    // we here return full matrices, whereas we actually only need to construct sparsity patterns
+
+    let etree = elimination_tree(m);
+    let (nrows, ncols) = (m.nrows(), m.ncols());
+    let mut rows = Vec::with_capacity(m.nnz());
+    // TODO: Use a Vec here instead
+    let mut cols = unsafe { VectorN::new_uninitialized_generic(Dynamic::new(nrows), U1) };
+    let mut marks = Vec::new();
+
+    // NOTE: the following will actually compute the non-zero pattern of
+    // the transpose of l.
+    for i in 0..nrows {
+        cols[i] = rows.len();
+        reach(m, i, i, &etree, &mut marks, &mut rows);
+    }
+
+    // TODO: Get rid of this in particular
+    let mut vals = Vec::with_capacity(rows.len());
+    unsafe {
+        vals.set_len(rows.len());
+    }
+    vals.shrink_to_fit();
+
+    // TODO: Remove this unnecessary conversion by using Vec throughout
+    let mut cols: Vec<_> = cols.iter().cloned().collect();
+    cols.push(rows.len());
+
+    let u = CscMatrix::try_from_csc_data(nrows, ncols, cols, rows, vals).unwrap();
+    // TODO: Avoid this transpose
+    let l = u.transpose();
+
+    (l, u)
+}
+
+fn elimination_tree<T>(m: &CscMatrix<T>) -> Vec<usize> {
+    let nrows = m.nrows();
+    let mut forest: Vec<_> = iter::repeat(usize::max_value()).take(nrows).collect();
+    let mut ancestor: Vec<_> = iter::repeat(usize::max_value()).take(nrows).collect();
+
+    for k in 0..nrows {
+        for &irow in m.col(k).row_indices() {
+            let mut i = irow;
+
+            while i < k {
+                let i_ancestor = ancestor[i];
+                ancestor[i] = k;
+
+                if i_ancestor == usize::max_value() {
+                    forest[i] = k;
+                    break;
+                }
+
+                i = i_ancestor;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    forest
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/nalgebra-sparse/src/factorization/mod.rs b/nalgebra-sparse/src/factorization/mod.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6596f530
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nalgebra-sparse/src/factorization/mod.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+//! Matrix factorization for sparse matrices.
+mod cholesky;
+
+pub use cholesky::*;
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/nalgebra-sparse/src/lib.rs b/nalgebra-sparse/src/lib.rs
index c81b429b..9441fc96 100644
--- a/nalgebra-sparse/src/lib.rs
+++ b/nalgebra-sparse/src/lib.rs
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@ pub mod csr;
 pub mod pattern;
 pub mod ops;
 pub mod convert;
+pub mod factorization;
 
 pub(crate) mod cs;
 
diff --git a/nalgebra-sparse/tests/unit_tests/cholesky.rs b/nalgebra-sparse/tests/unit_tests/cholesky.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..95550278
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nalgebra-sparse/tests/unit_tests/cholesky.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+#![cfg_attr(rustfmt, rustfmt_skip)]
+use crate::common::{value_strategy, PROPTEST_MATRIX_DIM, PROPTEST_MAX_NNZ};
+use nalgebra_sparse::csc::CscMatrix;
+use nalgebra_sparse::factorization::{CscCholesky};
+use nalgebra_sparse::proptest::csc;
+use nalgebra::{Matrix5, Vector5, Cholesky, DMatrix};
+
+use proptest::prelude::*;
+use matrixcompare::assert_matrix_eq;
+
+fn positive_definite() -> impl Strategy<Value=CscMatrix<f64>> {
+    let csc_f64 = csc(value_strategy::<f64>(),
+                      PROPTEST_MATRIX_DIM,
+                      PROPTEST_MATRIX_DIM,
+                      PROPTEST_MAX_NNZ);
+    csc_f64
+        .prop_map(|x| {
+            // Add a small multiple of the identity to ensure positive definiteness
+            x.transpose() * &x + CscMatrix::identity(x.ncols())
+        })
+}
+
+proptest! {
+    #[test]
+    fn cholesky_correct_for_positive_definite_matrices(
+        matrix in positive_definite()
+    ) {
+        let cholesky = CscCholesky::factor(&matrix).unwrap();
+        let l = cholesky.take_l();
+        let matrix_reconstructed = &l * l.transpose();
+
+        // TODO: Use matrixcompare instead
+        let diff = DMatrix::from(&(matrix_reconstructed - matrix));
+        prop_assert!(diff.abs().max() < 1e-8);
+
+        // TODO: Check that L is in fact lower triangular
+    }
+
+}
+
+// This is a test ported from nalgebra's "sparse" module, for the original CsCholesky impl
+#[test]
+fn cs_cholesky() {
+    let mut a = Matrix5::new(
+        40.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0,
+        2.0, 60.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0,
+        1.0, 0.0, 11.0, 0.0, 0.0,
+        0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 50.0, 0.0,
+        1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 4.0, 10.0
+    );
+    a.fill_upper_triangle_with_lower_triangle();
+    test_cholesky(a);
+
+    let a = Matrix5::from_diagonal(&Vector5::new(40.0, 60.0, 11.0, 50.0, 10.0));
+    test_cholesky(a);
+
+    let mut a = Matrix5::new(
+        40.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0,
+        2.0, 60.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0,
+        1.0, 0.0, 11.0, 0.0, 0.0,
+        1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 50.0, 0.0,
+        0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 4.0, 10.0
+    );
+    a.fill_upper_triangle_with_lower_triangle();
+    test_cholesky(a);
+
+    let mut a = Matrix5::new(
+        2.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0,
+        0.0, 2.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0,
+        1.0, 1.0, 2.0, 0.0, 0.0,
+        0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 2.0, 0.0,
+        1.0, 1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 2.0
+    );
+    a.fill_upper_triangle_with_lower_triangle();
+    // Test crate::new, left_looking, and up_looking implementations.
+    test_cholesky(a);
+}
+
+fn test_cholesky(a: Matrix5<f64>) {
+    // TODO: Test "refactor"
+
+    let cs_a = CscMatrix::from(&a);
+
+    let chol_a = Cholesky::new(a).unwrap();
+    let chol_cs_a = CscCholesky::factor(&cs_a).unwrap();
+
+    let l = chol_a.l();
+    let cs_l = chol_cs_a.take_l();
+
+    let l = DMatrix::from_iterator(l.nrows(), l.ncols(), l.iter().cloned());
+    let cs_l_mat = DMatrix::from(&cs_l);
+    assert_matrix_eq!(l, cs_l_mat, comp = abs, tol = 1e-12);
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/nalgebra-sparse/tests/unit_tests/mod.rs b/nalgebra-sparse/tests/unit_tests/mod.rs
index cb32cd71..a1f25715 100644
--- a/nalgebra-sparse/tests/unit_tests/mod.rs
+++ b/nalgebra-sparse/tests/unit_tests/mod.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 mod coo;
+mod cholesky;
 mod ops;
 mod pattern;
 mod csr;