diff --git a/pywikibot/family.py b/pywikibot/family.py
index 6196f28ab..5de4fd3b7 100644
--- a/pywikibot/family.py
+++ b/pywikibot/family.py
@@ -730,6 +730,13 @@ class Family:
         """
         return '/w'
 
+    def mediawiki_version(self):
+        """"The version of the mediawiki to connect to.
+            Returns a version string, or None
+            If None is returned, the version will be retrieved from mediawiki.
+            If a version is returned, pywikibot will assume that mediawiki has the returned version."""
+        return None
+
     def ssl_pathprefix(self, code):
         """The path prefix for secure HTTP access."""
         # Override this ONLY if the wiki family requires a path prefix
diff --git a/pywikibot/site/_apisite.py b/pywikibot/site/_apisite.py
index dbe665439..3089d4993 100644
--- a/pywikibot/site/_apisite.py
+++ b/pywikibot/site/_apisite.py
@@ -924,21 +924,26 @@ class APISite(
 
         Use :py:obj:`pywikibot.site.mw_version` to compare MediaWiki versions.
         """
-        try:
-            version = self.siteinfo.get('generator', expiry=1).split(' ')[1]
-        except APIError:
-            msg = 'You have no API read permissions.'
-            if not self.logged_in():
-                msg += ' Seems you are not logged in.'
-            pywikibot.error(msg)
-            raise
 
-        if MediaWikiVersion(version) < '1.23':
-            raise RuntimeError(
-                'Pywikibot "{}" does not support MediaWiki "{}".\n'
-                'Use Pywikibot prior to "6.0" branch instead.'
-                .format(pywikibot.__version__, version))
-        return version
+        version_from_family = self.family.mediawiki_version()
+        if version_from_family:
+            return version_from_family
+        else:
+            try:
+                version = self.siteinfo.get('generator', expiry=1).split(' ')[1]
+            except APIError:
+                msg = 'You have no API read permissions.'
+                if not self.logged_in():
+                    msg += ' Seems you are not logged in.'
+                pywikibot.error(msg)
+                raise
+
+            if MediaWikiVersion(version) < '1.23':
+                raise RuntimeError(
+                    'Pywikibot "{}" does not support MediaWiki "{}".\n'
+                    'Use Pywikibot prior to "6.0" branch instead.'
+                    .format(pywikibot.__version__, version))
+            return version
 
     @property
     def mw_version(self):