diff --git a/doc/conf.py b/doc/conf.py
index ea519832..3078781a 100644
--- a/doc/conf.py
+++ b/doc/conf.py
@@ -24,6 +24,9 @@
 # If True, the build process is continued even if an exception occurs:
 #nbsphinx_allow_errors = True
 
+# If True, this enables wrapping of markdown cells in sphinx-directives:
+#nbsphinx_allow_directives = True
+
 # Controls when a cell will time out (defaults to 30; use -1 for no timeout):
 #nbsphinx_timeout = 60
 
diff --git a/doc/markdown-cells.ipynb b/doc/markdown-cells.ipynb
index 2a448fb4..0992f9bd 100644
--- a/doc/markdown-cells.ipynb
+++ b/doc/markdown-cells.ipynb
@@ -172,6 +172,59 @@
     "The linked files are automatically copied to the HTML output directory.\n",
     "For LaTeX output, no link is created."
    ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "markdown",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "source": [
+    "## Encapsulate Cell in Sphinx Directive"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "markdown",
+   "metadata": {
+    "nbsphinx-directive": true
+   },
+   "source": [
+    "Important\n",
+    "---------\n",
+    "This facilitates the use of Sphinx Directives, like admonitions (eg. ``.. important:: ``), with processed markdown inside. \n",
+    "\n",
+    "The first line of the cell must contain the admonition type. It also has to be underlined with `-` to be processed correctly and to give similar look within the notebook.\n",
+    "\n",
+    "Also the above mentioned markdown like:\n",
+    "\n",
+    "- Equations: $\\text{e}^{i\\pi} = -1$, \n",
+    "- Links: [link to somewhere](#Links-to-Other-Notebooks) or \n",
+    "- *emphasis*, **boldface** and `preformatted text` \n",
+    "\n",
+    "can be used within this cell. "
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "markdown",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "source": [
+    "Note\n",
+    "----\n",
+    "To use this behaviour there exist three possibilities:\n",
+    "\n",
+    "- add this metadata switch to the cells metadata to enable for the single cell\n",
+    "    ```python3\n",
+    "    {\n",
+    "      \"nbsphinx-directive\": true\n",
+    "    }\n",
+    "    ```\n",
+    "- add this metadata switch to the notebooks metadata to enable notebook wide:\n",
+    "    ```python3\n",
+    "    {\n",
+    "      \"nbsphinx\": {\n",
+    "        \"allow_directives\": true\n",
+    "       },\n",
+    "    }\n",
+    "    ```\n",
+    "- add `nbsphinx_allow_directives = True` in `conf.py` to enable doc-wide"
+   ]
   }
  ],
  "metadata": {
@@ -191,6 +244,9 @@
    "nbconvert_exporter": "python",
    "pygments_lexer": "ipython3",
    "version": "3.5.1+"
+  },
+  "nbsphinx": {
+   "allow_directives": true
   }
  },
  "nbformat": 4,
diff --git a/nbsphinx.py b/nbsphinx.py
index 7c3aee4e..b72c4bb6 100644
--- a/nbsphinx.py
+++ b/nbsphinx.py
@@ -162,8 +162,12 @@
 {%- if 'nbsphinx-toctree' in cell.metadata %}
 {{ cell | extract_toctree }}
 {%- else %}
+{%- if nb.metadata.nbsphinx.allow_directives or 'nbsphinx-directive' in cell.metadata %}
+{{ cell | wrap_cell}}
+{%- else %}
 {{ super() }}
-{% endif %}
+{%- endif %}
+{%- endif %}
 {% endblock markdowncell %}
 
 
@@ -363,9 +367,11 @@ class Exporter(nbconvert.RSTExporter):
 
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, allow_errors=False, timeout=30, codecell_lexer='none'):
+    def __init__(self, allow_errors=False, allow_directives=False,
+                 timeout=30, codecell_lexer='none'):
         """Initialize the Exporter."""
         self._allow_errors = allow_errors
+        self._allow_directives = allow_directives
         self._timeout = timeout
         self._codecell_lexer = codecell_lexer
         loader = jinja2.DictLoader({'nbsphinx-rst.tpl': RST_TEMPLATE})
@@ -375,6 +381,7 @@ def __init__(self, allow_errors=False, timeout=30, codecell_lexer='none'):
                 'markdown2rst': markdown2rst,
                 'get_empty_lines': _get_empty_lines,
                 'extract_toctree': _extract_toctree,
+                'wrap_cell': _wrap_cell,
             })
 
     def from_notebook_node(self, nb, resources=None, **kw):
@@ -398,6 +405,14 @@ def from_notebook_node(self, nb, resources=None, **kw):
                 allow_errors=allow_errors, timeout=timeout)
             nb, resources = pp.preprocess(nb, resources)
 
+        # check allow directive
+        if self._allow_directives:
+            allow_directives = self._allow_directives
+        else:
+            allow_directives = nbsphinx_metadata.get('allow_directives', False)
+        nbsphinx_metadata['allow_directives'] = allow_directives
+        nb.metadata['nbsphinx'] = nbsphinx_metadata
+
         # Call into RSTExporter
         rststr, resources = super(Exporter, self).from_notebook_node(
             nb, resources, **kw)
@@ -441,6 +456,7 @@ def parse(self, inputstring, document):
         resources['unique_key'] = env.docname.replace('/', '_')
 
         exporter = Exporter(allow_errors=env.config.nbsphinx_allow_errors,
+                            allow_directives=env.config.nbsphinx_allow_directives,
                             timeout=env.config.nbsphinx_timeout,
                             codecell_lexer=env.config.nbsphinx_codecell_lexer)
 
@@ -667,6 +683,22 @@ def _extract_toctree(cell):
     return '\n    '.join(lines)
 
 
+def _wrap_cell(cell):
+    """Wrap cell content from Markdown cell in sphinx directive."""
+    text = cell.source.split('\n', 2)
+
+    # wrap only if at least 3 lines exist
+    # and if first line corresponds to second line
+    if (len(text) > 2) and (text[1] == ('-' * len(text[0]))):
+        text = "".join([".. ", text[0].lower(), ":: \n\n   ",
+                        markdown2rst(text[2])
+                       .replace("\n", '\n   '), "\n"])
+    else:
+        text = markdown2rst(cell.source)
+
+    return text
+
+
 def _get_empty_lines(text):
     """Get number of empty lines before and after code."""
     before = len(text) - len(text.lstrip('\n'))
@@ -931,6 +963,7 @@ def setup(app):
     _add_notebook_parser(app)
 
     app.add_config_value('nbsphinx_allow_errors', False, rebuild='')
+    app.add_config_value('nbsphinx_allow_directives', False, rebuild='')
     app.add_config_value('nbsphinx_timeout', 30, rebuild='')
     app.add_config_value('nbsphinx_codecell_lexer', 'none', rebuild='env')