diff --git a/templates/explore/repo_search.tmpl b/templates/explore/repo_search.tmpl
index 136d3f8e81..920880a885 100644
--- a/templates/explore/repo_search.tmpl
+++ b/templates/explore/repo_search.tmpl
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 	<form class="ui form ignore-dirty gt-f1">
 		<input type="hidden" name="sort" value="{{$.SortType}}">
 		<input type="hidden" name="language" value="{{$.Language}}">
+		<input type="hidden" name="topic" value="{{$.TopicOnly}}">
 		<div class="ui fluid action input">
 			{{template "shared/searchinput" dict "Value" .Keyword "AutoFocus" true}}
 			{{if .PageIsExploreRepositories}}
diff --git a/tests/integration/explore_repos_test.go b/tests/integration/explore_repos_test.go
index 26fd1dde64..1afc423152 100644
--- a/tests/integration/explore_repos_test.go
+++ b/tests/integration/explore_repos_test.go
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 
 	"code.gitea.io/gitea/tests"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 )
 
 func TestExploreRepos(t *testing.T) {
@@ -15,4 +17,16 @@ func TestExploreRepos(t *testing.T) {
 
 	req := NewRequest(t, "GET", "/explore/repos")
 	MakeRequest(t, req, http.StatusOK)
+
+	t.Run("Persistent parameters", func(t *testing.T) {
+		defer tests.PrintCurrentTest(t)()
+
+		req := NewRequest(t, "GET", "/explore/repos?topic=1&language=Go&sort=moststars")
+		resp := MakeRequest(t, req, http.StatusOK)
+		htmlDoc := NewHTMLParser(t, resp.Body)
+
+		assert.EqualValues(t, "moststars", htmlDoc.Find("input[type='hidden'][name='sort']").AttrOr("value", "not found"))
+		assert.EqualValues(t, "Go", htmlDoc.Find("input[type='hidden'][name='language']").AttrOr("value", "not found"))
+		assert.EqualValues(t, "true", htmlDoc.Find("input[type='hidden'][name='topic']").AttrOr("value", "not found"))
+	})
 }