diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index cf806678081..e7ce49d433b 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ endif()
 
 find_package(SDL2 2.0.4 REQUIRED)
 find_package(Crypto 1.0 REQUIRED)
-find_package(Boost 1.56 REQUIRED COMPONENTS iostreams program_options regex system thread random)
+find_package(Boost 1.50 REQUIRED COMPONENTS iostreams program_options regex system thread random)
 
 # no, gettext executables are not required when NLS is deactivated
 find_package(Gettext)
@@ -478,7 +478,7 @@ if(ENABLE_GAME OR ENABLE_TESTS)
 endif(ENABLE_GAME OR ENABLE_TESTS)
 
 if(ENABLE_TESTS)
-	find_package( Boost 1.56 REQUIRED COMPONENTS unit_test_framework )
+	find_package( Boost 1.36 REQUIRED COMPONENTS unit_test_framework )
 endif(ENABLE_TESTS)
 
 if(ENABLE_GAME)
@@ -517,8 +517,8 @@ if(ENABLE_GAME)
 	endif(ENABLE_HISTORY AND HISTORY_FOUND)
 endif(ENABLE_GAME)
 
-find_package(Boost 1.56 REQUIRED COMPONENTS filesystem)
-find_package(Boost 1.56 REQUIRED COMPONENTS locale)
+find_package(Boost 1.50 REQUIRED COMPONENTS filesystem)
+find_package(Boost 1.50 REQUIRED COMPONENTS locale)
 
 if(ENABLE_POT_UPDATE_TARGET)
 	find_package(TranslationTools REQUIRED)
diff --git a/INSTALL.md b/INSTALL.md
index 4c6c0747a59..cd4184ba21c 100644
--- a/INSTALL.md
+++ b/INSTALL.md
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ later, or Clang 3.8 and later.
 You'll need to have these libraries and their development headers installed in
 order to build Wesnoth:
 
- * Boost libraries             >= 1.56.0
+ * Boost libraries             >= 1.50.0
      Most headers plus the following binary libs:
    * Filesystem
    * Locale
diff --git a/SConstruct b/SConstruct
index f12fbe1a895..c18d9e053f8 100755
--- a/SConstruct
+++ b/SConstruct
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ if env['distcc']:
 
 if env['ccache']: env.Tool('ccache')
 
-boost_version = '1.56.0'
+boost_version = '1.50.0'
 
 
 Help("""Arguments may be a mixture of switches and targets in any order.