diff --git a/lib/Act/Dispatcher.pm b/lib/Act/Dispatcher.pm
index ead3ac22b..d18fc168d 100644
--- a/lib/Act/Dispatcher.pm
+++ b/lib/Act/Dispatcher.pm
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ use Encode qw(decode_utf8);
 use Plack::Builder;
 use Plack::Request;
 use Plack::App::Cascade;
+use Plack::App::File;
 
 use Act::Config;
 use Act::Handler::Static;
@@ -117,6 +118,21 @@ sub conference_app {
             };
         };
         Plack::App::Cascade->new( catch => [99], apps => [
+            builder {
+                # XXX ugly, but functional for now
+                enable sub {
+                    my ( $app ) = @_;
+
+                    return sub {
+                        my ( $env ) = @_;
+
+                        my $res = $app->($env);
+                        $res->[0] = 99 if $res->[0] == 404;
+                        return $res;
+                    };
+                };
+                Plack::App::File->new(root => $Config->general_root)->to_app;
+            },
             builder {
                 enable '+Act::Middleware::Auth';
                 for my $uri ( keys %public_handlers ) {
diff --git a/lib/Act/Handler/User/Register.pm b/lib/Act/Handler/User/Register.pm
index cee2ff036..12b040340 100644
--- a/lib/Act/Handler/User/Register.pm
+++ b/lib/Act/Handler/User/Register.pm
@@ -45,6 +45,12 @@ sub handler
     # conference is closed
     if ($Config->closed) {
         $Request{status} = 403;
+        my $template = Act::Template::HTML->new();
+        $template->variables(
+            closed   => 1,
+            end_date => DateTime::Format::Pg->parse_timestamp($Config->talks_end_date)->epoch,
+        );
+        $template->process('user/register');
         return;
     }
     # special case of logged in users!
diff --git a/lib/Act/Util.pm b/lib/Act/Util.pm
index d256afbcf..9b7f030b4 100644
--- a/lib/Act/Util.pm
+++ b/lib/Act/Util.pm
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ use Act::Database;
 
 use vars qw(@ISA @EXPORT %Languages);
 @ISA    = qw(Exporter);
-@EXPORT = qw(make_uri make_uri_info self_uri localize);
+@EXPORT = qw(make_uri make_abs_uri make_uri_info self_uri localize);
 
 # password generation data
 my %grams = (
@@ -96,6 +96,14 @@ sub make_uri
     return _build_uri($uri, %params);
 }
 
+sub make_abs_uri {
+    my ( $action, %params ) = @_;
+
+    my $uri = $Request{r}->uri;
+    $uri->path(make_uri(@_));
+    return $uri;
+}
+
 # create a uri pathinfo-style
 sub make_uri_info
 {
@@ -348,6 +356,10 @@ Returns an URI that points to I<action>, with an optional query string
 built from I<%params>. For more details on actions, refer to the
 Act::Dispatcher documentation.
 
+=item make_abs_uri(I<$action>, I<%params>)
+
+Similar to L<make_uri/"">, but returns an absolute URI.
+
 =item self_uri(I<%params>)
 
 Returns a self-referential URI (a URI that points to the current location)
diff --git a/po/en.po b/po/en.po
index 09e5fb903..976860c66 100644
--- a/po/en.po
+++ b/po/en.po
@@ -1413,3 +1413,5 @@ msgstr "Unknown order ID."
 msgid "User is not registered."
 msgstr "User is not registered."
 
+msgid "Sorry, registration for this conference has been closed."
+msgstr "Sorry, registration for this conference has been closed."
diff --git a/templates/core/user/register b/templates/core/user/register
index 943814f76..59cdccd89 100644
--- a/templates/core/user/register
+++ b/templates/core/user/register
@@ -3,6 +3,10 @@
 <p>
  {{Sorry, this conference is over.}}
 </p>
+[% ELSIF closed %]
+<p>
+ {{Sorry, registration for this conference has been closed.}}
+</p>
 [% ELSE %]
 
 <p>