diff --git a/gtk/gtkmain.c b/gtk/gtkmain.c
index f59f1403cc..a517a0e6e7 100644
--- a/gtk/gtkmain.c
+++ b/gtk/gtkmain.c
@@ -623,6 +623,9 @@ do_pre_parse_initialization (void)
       slowdown = g_ascii_strtod (env_string, NULL);
       _gtk_set_slowdown (slowdown);
     }
+
+  /* Trigger fontconfig initialization early */
+  pango_cairo_font_map_get_default ();
 }
 
 static void