diff --git a/Kitodo/src/main/java/org/kitodo/production/version/KitodoVersionListener.java b/Kitodo/src/main/java/org/kitodo/production/version/KitodoVersionListener.java
index 8b988a63ed7..44ddf914389 100644
--- a/Kitodo/src/main/java/org/kitodo/production/version/KitodoVersionListener.java
+++ b/Kitodo/src/main/java/org/kitodo/production/version/KitodoVersionListener.java
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@
 import javax.servlet.ServletContextListener;
 import javax.servlet.annotation.WebListener;
 
+import org.kitodo.data.database.persistence.HibernateUtil;
+
 /**
  * Listener to set up Kitodo versioning information from Manifest on application
  * startup.
@@ -46,6 +48,8 @@ public void contextInitialized(ServletContextEvent sce) {
 
     @Override
     public void contextDestroyed(ServletContextEvent sce) {
-        // nothing is done here
+        // close connection to database on shutdown.
+        // must be adjusted on switching to JPA or another connection layer.
+        HibernateUtil.getSession().getSessionFactory().close();
     }
 }