diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 621db04..e6d00f0 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 
 ### New features
 
+* Enable `linum-mode` by default. Can be disabled by setting `prelude-minimalistic-ui` to `nil`.
+
 ### Changes
 
 * [#1278](https://github.com/bbatsov/prelude/issues/1278): Don't disable `menu-bar-mode` unless `prelude-minimalistic-ui` is enabled.
diff --git a/core/prelude-ui.el b/core/prelude-ui.el
index f6e1b0c..7c97f6b 100644
--- a/core/prelude-ui.el
+++ b/core/prelude-ui.el
@@ -59,6 +59,10 @@
 (column-number-mode t)
 (size-indication-mode t)
 
+;; show line numbers at the beginning of each line
+(unless prelude-minimalistic-ui
+  (linum-mode))
+
 ;; enable y/n answers
 (fset 'yes-or-no-p 'y-or-n-p)