diff --git a/src/github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/federationapi/readers/events.go b/src/github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/federationapi/readers/events.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b0c3c1965
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/federationapi/readers/events.go
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+// Copyright 2017 New Vector Ltd
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package readers
+
+import (
+	"net/http"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/common/config"
+	"github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/roomserver/api"
+	"github.com/matrix-org/gomatrixserverlib"
+	"github.com/matrix-org/util"
+)
+
+// GetEvent returns the requested event
+func GetEvent(
+	httpReq *http.Request,
+	request *gomatrixserverlib.FederationRequest,
+	cfg config.Dendrite,
+	query api.RoomserverQueryAPI,
+	now time.Time,
+	keys gomatrixserverlib.KeyRing,
+	eventID string,
+) util.JSONResponse {
+	var authResponse api.QueryServerAllowedToSeeEventResponse
+	err := query.QueryServerAllowedToSeeEvent(&api.QueryServerAllowedToSeeEventRequest{
+		EventID:    eventID,
+		ServerName: request.Origin(),
+	}, &authResponse)
+	if err != nil {
+		return util.ErrorResponse(err)
+	}
+
+	if !authResponse.AllowedToSeeEvent {
+		return util.MessageResponse(403, "server not allowed to see event")
+	}
+
+	var eventsResponse api.QueryEventsByIDResponse
+	err = query.QueryEventsByID(&api.QueryEventsByIDRequest{
+		EventIDs: []string{eventID},
+	}, &eventsResponse)
+
+	if err != nil {
+		return util.ErrorResponse(err)
+	}
+
+	if len(eventsResponse.Events) == 0 {
+		return util.JSONResponse{Code: 404, JSON: nil}
+	}
+
+	return util.JSONResponse{Code: 200, JSON: &eventsResponse.Events[0]}
+}