diff --git a/modules/python/CMakeLists.txt b/modules/python/CMakeLists.txt
index 5a42a7b62b..591490fe61 100644
--- a/modules/python/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/modules/python/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -65,6 +65,8 @@ add_custom_command(
    DEPENDS ${opencv_hdrs})
 
 add_library(${the_module} SHARED src2/cv2.cpp ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/generated0.i ${cv2_generated_hdrs} src2/cv2.cv.hpp)
+set_target_properties(${the_module} PROPERTIES COMPILE_DEFINITIONS OPENCV_NOSTL)
+
 if(PYTHON_DEBUG_LIBRARIES AND NOT PYTHON_LIBRARIES MATCHES "optimized.*debug")
   target_link_libraries(${the_module} debug ${PYTHON_DEBUG_LIBRARIES} optimized ${PYTHON_LIBRARIES})
 else()
diff --git a/modules/python/src2/cv2.cpp b/modules/python/src2/cv2.cpp
index 36aaf740ba..f0242f9314 100644
--- a/modules/python/src2/cv2.cpp
+++ b/modules/python/src2/cv2.cpp
@@ -100,8 +100,6 @@ catch (const cv::Exception &e) \
 using namespace cv;
 typedef cv::softcascade::ChannelFeatureBuilder softcascade_ChannelFeatureBuilder;
 
-typedef std::string string;
-
 typedef std::vector<uchar> vector_uchar;
 typedef std::vector<int> vector_int;
 typedef std::vector<float> vector_float;
@@ -117,7 +115,7 @@ typedef std::vector<Rect> vector_Rect;
 typedef std::vector<KeyPoint> vector_KeyPoint;
 typedef std::vector<Mat> vector_Mat;
 typedef std::vector<DMatch> vector_DMatch;
-typedef std::vector<std::string> vector_string;
+typedef std::vector<cv::String> vector_String;
 typedef std::vector<std::vector<Point> > vector_vector_Point;
 typedef std::vector<std::vector<Point2f> > vector_vector_Point2f;
 typedef std::vector<std::vector<Point3f> > vector_vector_Point3f;
@@ -550,12 +548,12 @@ static PyObject* pyopencv_from(int64 value)
     return PyLong_FromLongLong(value);
 }
 
-static PyObject* pyopencv_from(const std::string& value)
+static PyObject* pyopencv_from(const cv::String& value)
 {
     return PyString_FromString(value.empty() ? "" : value.c_str());
 }
 
-static bool pyopencv_to(PyObject* obj, std::string& value, const char* name = "<unknown>")
+static bool pyopencv_to(PyObject* obj, cv::String& value, const char* name = "<unknown>")
 {
     (void)name;
     if(!obj || obj == Py_None)
@@ -563,7 +561,7 @@ static bool pyopencv_to(PyObject* obj, std::string& value, const char* name = "<
     char* str = PyString_AsString(obj);
     if(!str)
         return false;
-    value = std::string(str);
+    value = cv::String(str);
     return true;
 }
 
@@ -906,14 +904,14 @@ template<> struct pyopencvVecConverter<DMatch>
     }
 };
 
-template<> struct pyopencvVecConverter<std::string>
+template<> struct pyopencvVecConverter<cv::String>
 {
-    static bool to(PyObject* obj, std::vector<std::string>& value, const ArgInfo info)
+    static bool to(PyObject* obj, std::vector<cv::String>& value, const ArgInfo info)
     {
         return pyopencv_to_generic_vec(obj, value, info);
     }
 
-    static PyObject* from(const std::vector<std::string>& value)
+    static PyObject* from(const std::vector<cv::String>& value)
     {
         return pyopencv_from_generic_vec(value);
     }
@@ -994,7 +992,7 @@ static bool pyopencv_to(PyObject *o, cv::flann::IndexParams& p, const char *name
             PyObject* item = PyList_GET_ITEM(values, i);
             if( !PyString_Check(key) )
                 break;
-            std::string k = PyString_AsString(key);
+            cv::String k = PyString_AsString(key);
             if( PyString_Check(item) )
             {
                 const char* value = PyString_AsString(item);
diff --git a/modules/python/src2/hdr_parser.py b/modules/python/src2/hdr_parser.py
index 536e180c2f..cf26b59ebe 100755
--- a/modules/python/src2/hdr_parser.py
+++ b/modules/python/src2/hdr_parser.py
@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@ class CppHeaderParser(object):
                 if pos >= 0:
                     aname = arg[pos+1:].strip()
                     atype = arg[:pos+1].strip()
-                    if aname.endswith("&") or aname.endswith("*") or (aname in ["int", "string", "Mat"]):
+                    if aname.endswith("&") or aname.endswith("*") or (aname in ["int", "String", "Mat"]):
                         atype = (atype + " " + aname).strip()
                         aname = ""
                 else:
diff --git a/modules/python/test/test2.py b/modules/python/test/test2.py
index a331d69277..8796e70198 100644
--- a/modules/python/test/test2.py
+++ b/modules/python/test/test2.py
@@ -32,6 +32,19 @@ class NewOpenCVTests(unittest.TestCase):
         """ Compute a hash for an image, useful for image comparisons """
         return hashlib.md5(im.tostring()).digest()
 
+    if sys.version_info[:2] == (2, 6):
+        def assertLess(self, a, b, msg=None):
+            if not a < b:
+                self.fail('%s not less than %s' % (repr(a), repr(b)))
+
+        def assertLessEqual(self, a, b, msg=None):
+            if not a <= b:
+                self.fail('%s not less than or equal to %s' % (repr(a), repr(b)))
+
+        def assertGreater(self, a, b, msg=None):
+            if not a > b:
+                self.fail('%s not greater than %s' % (repr(a), repr(b)))
+
 # Tests to run first; check the handful of basic operations that the later tests rely on
 
 class Hackathon244Tests(NewOpenCVTests):