diff --git a/src/Gui/SplitView3DInventor.cpp b/src/Gui/SplitView3DInventor.cpp
index 7db754c7dd..78a7102da5 100644
--- a/src/Gui/SplitView3DInventor.cpp
+++ b/src/Gui/SplitView3DInventor.cpp
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
 #include "Application.h"
 #include "NavigationStyle.h"
 #include "View3DPy.h"
+#include <Base/Interpreter.h>
 
 
 using namespace Gui;
@@ -47,7 +48,7 @@ TYPESYSTEM_SOURCE_ABSTRACT(Gui::AbstractSplitView,Gui::MDIView)
 AbstractSplitView::AbstractSplitView(Gui::Document* pcDocument, QWidget* parent, Qt::WindowFlags wflags)
   : MDIView(pcDocument,parent, wflags)
 {
-    _viewerPy = 0;
+    _viewerPy = nullptr;
     // important for highlighting
     setMouseTracking(true);
 }
@@ -59,7 +60,7 @@ AbstractSplitView::~AbstractSplitView()
         delete *it;
     }
     if (_viewerPy) {
-        static_cast<AbstractSplitViewPy*>(_viewerPy)->_view = 0;
+        Base::PyGILStateLocker lock;
         Py_DECREF(_viewerPy);
     }
 }
@@ -72,6 +73,12 @@ void AbstractSplitView::deleteSelf()
     MDIView::deleteSelf();
 }
 
+void AbstractSplitView::viewAll()
+{
+    for (std::vector<View3DInventorViewer*>::iterator it = _viewer.begin(); it != _viewer.end(); ++it)
+        (*it)->viewAll();
+}
+
 bool AbstractSplitView::containsViewProvider(const ViewProvider* vp) const
 {
     for (auto it = _viewer.begin(); it != _viewer.end(); ++it) {
@@ -307,8 +314,7 @@ const char *AbstractSplitView::getName(void) const
 bool AbstractSplitView::onMsg(const char* pMsg, const char**)
 {
     if (strcmp("ViewFit",pMsg) == 0 ) {
-        for (std::vector<View3DInventorViewer*>::iterator it = _viewer.begin(); it != _viewer.end(); ++it)
-            (*it)->viewAll();
+        viewAll();
         return true;
     }
     else if (strcmp("ViewBottom",pMsg) == 0) {
@@ -439,6 +445,8 @@ void AbstractSplitViewPy::init_type()
     behaviors().doc("Python binding class for the Inventor viewer class");
     // you must have overwritten the virtual functions
     behaviors().supportRepr();
+    behaviors().supportGetattr();
+    behaviors().supportSetattr();
     behaviors().supportSequenceType();
 
     add_varargs_method("fitAll",&AbstractSplitViewPy::fitAll,"fitAll()");
@@ -452,10 +460,12 @@ void AbstractSplitViewPy::init_type()
     add_varargs_method("viewIsometric",&AbstractSplitViewPy::viewIsometric,"viewIsometric()");
     add_varargs_method("getViewer",&AbstractSplitViewPy::getViewer,"getViewer(index)");
     add_varargs_method("close",&AbstractSplitViewPy::close,"close()");
+    add_varargs_method("cast_to_base", &AbstractSplitViewPy::cast_to_base, "cast_to_base() cast to MDIView class");
+    behaviors().readyType();
 }
 
 AbstractSplitViewPy::AbstractSplitViewPy(AbstractSplitView *vi)
-  : _view(vi)
+  : base(vi)
 {
 }
 
@@ -463,30 +473,61 @@ AbstractSplitViewPy::~AbstractSplitViewPy()
 {
 }
 
-void AbstractSplitViewPy::testExistence()
+Py::Object AbstractSplitViewPy::cast_to_base(const Py::Tuple&)
 {
-    if (!(_view && _view->getViewer(0)))
-        throw Py::RuntimeError("Object already deleted");
+    return Gui::MDIViewPy::create(base.getMDIViewPtr());
 }
 
 Py::Object AbstractSplitViewPy::repr()
 {
-    std::string s;
     std::ostringstream s_out;
-    if (!_view)
+    if (!getSplitViewPtr())
         throw Py::RuntimeError("Cannot print representation of deleted object");
     s_out << "AbstractSplitView";
     return Py::String(s_out.str());
 }
 
+// Since with PyCXX it's not possible to make a sub-class of MDIViewPy
+// a trick is to use MDIViewPy as class member and override getattr() to
+// join the attributes of both classes. This way all methods of MDIViewPy
+// appear for SheetViewPy, too.
+Py::Object AbstractSplitViewPy::getattr(const char * attr)
+{
+    getSplitViewPtr();
+    std::string name( attr );
+    if (name == "__dict__" || name == "__class__") {
+        Py::Dict dict_self(BaseType::getattr("__dict__"));
+        Py::Dict dict_base(base.getattr("__dict__"));
+        for (auto it : dict_base) {
+            dict_self.setItem(it.first, it.second);
+        }
+        return dict_self;
+    }
+
+    try {
+        return BaseType::getattr(attr);
+    }
+    catch (Py::AttributeError& e) {
+        e.clear();
+        return base.getattr(attr);
+    }
+}
+
+AbstractSplitView* AbstractSplitViewPy::getSplitViewPtr()
+{
+    AbstractSplitView* view = qobject_cast<AbstractSplitView*>(base.getMDIViewPtr());
+    if (!(view && view->getViewer(0)))
+        throw Py::RuntimeError("Object already deleted");
+    return view;
+}
+
 Py::Object AbstractSplitViewPy::fitAll(const Py::Tuple& args)
 {
     if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args.ptr(), ""))
         throw Py::Exception();
-    testExistence();
 
     try {
-        _view->onMsg("ViewFit", 0);
+        getSplitViewPtr()->onMsg("ViewFit", 0);
     }
     catch (const Base::Exception& e) {
         throw Py::RuntimeError(e.what());
@@ -504,10 +545,9 @@ Py::Object AbstractSplitViewPy::viewBottom(const Py::Tuple& args)
 {
     if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args.ptr(), ""))
         throw Py::Exception();
-    testExistence();
 
     try {
-        _view->onMsg("ViewBottom", 0);
+        getSplitViewPtr()->onMsg("ViewBottom", 0);
     }
     catch (const Base::Exception& e) {
         throw Py::RuntimeError(e.what());
@@ -526,10 +566,9 @@ Py::Object AbstractSplitViewPy::viewFront(const Py::Tuple& args)
 {
     if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args.ptr(), ""))
         throw Py::Exception();
-    testExistence();
 
     try {
-        _view->onMsg("ViewFront", 0);
+        getSplitViewPtr()->onMsg("ViewFront", 0);
     }
     catch (const Base::Exception& e) {
         throw Py::RuntimeError(e.what());
@@ -548,10 +587,9 @@ Py::Object AbstractSplitViewPy::viewLeft(const Py::Tuple& args)
 {
     if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args.ptr(), ""))
         throw Py::Exception();
-    testExistence();
 
     try {
-        _view->onMsg("ViewLeft", 0);
+        getSplitViewPtr()->onMsg("ViewLeft", 0);
     }
     catch (const Base::Exception& e) {
         throw Py::RuntimeError(e.what());
@@ -570,10 +608,9 @@ Py::Object AbstractSplitViewPy::viewRear(const Py::Tuple& args)
 {
     if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args.ptr(), ""))
         throw Py::Exception();
-    testExistence();
 
     try {
-        _view->onMsg("ViewRear", 0);
+        getSplitViewPtr()->onMsg("ViewRear", 0);
     }
     catch (const Base::Exception& e) {
         throw Py::RuntimeError(e.what());
@@ -592,10 +629,9 @@ Py::Object AbstractSplitViewPy::viewRight(const Py::Tuple& args)
 {
     if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args.ptr(), ""))
         throw Py::Exception();
-    testExistence();
 
     try {
-        _view->onMsg("ViewRight", 0);
+        getSplitViewPtr()->onMsg("ViewRight", 0);
     }
     catch (const Base::Exception& e) {
         throw Py::RuntimeError(e.what());
@@ -614,10 +650,9 @@ Py::Object AbstractSplitViewPy::viewTop(const Py::Tuple& args)
 {
     if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args.ptr(), ""))
         throw Py::Exception();
-    testExistence();
 
     try {
-        _view->onMsg("ViewTop", 0);
+        getSplitViewPtr()->onMsg("ViewTop", 0);
     }
     catch (const Base::Exception& e) {
         throw Py::RuntimeError(e.what());
@@ -636,10 +671,9 @@ Py::Object AbstractSplitViewPy::viewIsometric(const Py::Tuple& args)
 {
     if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args.ptr(), ""))
         throw Py::Exception();
-    testExistence();
 
     try {
-        _view->onMsg("ViewAxo", 0);
+        getSplitViewPtr()->onMsg("ViewAxo", 0);
     }
     catch (const Base::Exception& e) {
         throw Py::RuntimeError(e.what());
@@ -659,10 +693,9 @@ Py::Object AbstractSplitViewPy::getViewer(const Py::Tuple& args)
     int viewIndex;
     if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args.ptr(), "i", &viewIndex))
         throw Py::Exception();
-    testExistence();
 
     try {
-        Gui::View3DInventorViewer* view = _view->getViewer(viewIndex);
+        Gui::View3DInventorViewer* view = getSplitViewPtr()->getViewer(viewIndex);
         if (!view)
             throw Py::IndexError("Index out of range");
         return Py::asObject(view->getPyObject());
@@ -673,6 +706,10 @@ Py::Object AbstractSplitViewPy::getViewer(const Py::Tuple& args)
     catch (const std::exception& e) {
         throw Py::RuntimeError(e.what());
     }
+    catch (const Py::Exception&) {
+        // re-throw
+        throw;
+    }
     catch(...) {
         throw Py::RuntimeError("Unknown C++ exception");
     }
@@ -680,29 +717,28 @@ Py::Object AbstractSplitViewPy::getViewer(const Py::Tuple& args)
 
 Py::Object AbstractSplitViewPy::sequence_item(ssize_t viewIndex)
 {
-    testExistence();
-    if (viewIndex >= _view->getSize() || viewIndex < 0)
+    AbstractSplitView* view = getSplitViewPtr();
+    if (viewIndex >= view->getSize() || viewIndex < 0)
         throw Py::IndexError("Index out of range");
-    PyObject* viewer = _view->getViewer(viewIndex)->getPyObject();
+    PyObject* viewer = view->getViewer(viewIndex)->getPyObject();
     return Py::asObject(viewer);
 }
 
 int AbstractSplitViewPy::sequence_length()
 {
-    testExistence();
-    return _view->getSize();
+    AbstractSplitView* view = getSplitViewPtr();
+    return view->getSize();
 }
 
 Py::Object AbstractSplitViewPy::close(const Py::Tuple& args)
 {
     if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args.ptr(), ""))
         throw Py::Exception();
-    testExistence();
 
-    _view->close();
-    if (_view->parentWidget())
-        _view->parentWidget()->deleteLater();
-    _view = 0;
+    AbstractSplitView* view = getSplitViewPtr();
+    view->close();
+    if (view->parentWidget())
+        view->parentWidget()->deleteLater();
 
     return Py::None();
 }
@@ -791,3 +827,5 @@ SplitView3DInventor::SplitView3DInventor(int views, Gui::Document* pcDocument, Q
 SplitView3DInventor::~SplitView3DInventor()
 {
 }
+
+#include "moc_SplitView3DInventor.cpp"
diff --git a/src/Gui/SplitView3DInventor.h b/src/Gui/SplitView3DInventor.h
index bbbdd6d3fd..da0bfb56a6 100644
--- a/src/Gui/SplitView3DInventor.h
+++ b/src/Gui/SplitView3DInventor.h
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 #define GUI_SPLITVIEW3DINVENTOR_H
 
 #include "MDIView.h"
+#include "MDIViewPy.h"
 
 #include <Base/Parameter.h>
 #include <CXX/Extensions.hxx>
@@ -39,6 +40,8 @@ class AbstractSplitViewPy;
  */
 class GuiExport AbstractSplitView : public MDIView, public ParameterGrp::ObserverType
 {
+    Q_OBJECT
+
     TYPESYSTEM_HEADER();
 
 public:
@@ -53,6 +56,7 @@ public:
     virtual void OnChange(ParameterGrp::SubjectType &rCaller,ParameterGrp::MessageType Reason);
     virtual void onUpdate(void);
     virtual void deleteSelf();
+    virtual void viewAll();
 
     View3DInventorViewer *getViewer(unsigned int) const;
     void setOverrideCursor(const QCursor&);
@@ -75,12 +79,16 @@ protected:
 class AbstractSplitViewPy : public Py::PythonExtension<AbstractSplitViewPy>
 {
 public:
-    static void init_type(void);    // announce properties and methods
+    using BaseType = Py::PythonExtension<AbstractSplitViewPy>;
+    static void init_type();    // announce properties and methods
 
     AbstractSplitViewPy(AbstractSplitView *vi);
     ~AbstractSplitViewPy();
+    AbstractSplitView* getSplitViewPtr();
 
     Py::Object repr();
+    Py::Object getattr(const char *);
+    Py::Object cast_to_base(const Py::Tuple&);
 
     Py::Object fitAll(const Py::Tuple&);
     Py::Object viewBottom(const Py::Tuple&);
@@ -96,9 +104,7 @@ public:
     int sequence_length();
 
 private:
-    AbstractSplitView* _view;
-    friend class AbstractSplitView;
-    void testExistence();
+    Gui::MDIViewPy base;
 };
 
 /** The SplitView3DInventor class allows to create a window with two or more Inventor views.