diff --git a/django/db/backends/sqlite3/base.py b/django/db/backends/sqlite3/base.py
index 68452e1363..a3e8f0d584 100644
--- a/django/db/backends/sqlite3/base.py
+++ b/django/db/backends/sqlite3/base.py
@@ -62,7 +62,10 @@ class DatabaseWrapper(local):
             self.connection.rollback()
 
     def close(self):
-        if self.connection is not None:
+        from django.conf import settings
+        # If database is in memory, closing the connection destroys the database.
+        # To prevent accidental data loss, ignore close requests on an in-memory db.
+        if self.connection is not None and settings.DATABASE_NAME != ":memory:":
             self.connection.close()
             self.connection = None
 
diff --git a/django/test/utils.py b/django/test/utils.py
index 1bb448f41b..039a6dd7a2 100644
--- a/django/test/utils.py
+++ b/django/test/utils.py
@@ -95,10 +95,11 @@ def destroy_test_db(old_database_name, verbosity=1):
     # connected to it.
     if verbosity >= 1:
         print "Destroying test database..."
+    connection.close()
+    TEST_DATABASE_NAME = settings.DATABASE_NAME
+    settings.DATABASE_NAME = old_database_name
+
     if settings.DATABASE_ENGINE != "sqlite3":
-        connection.close()
-        TEST_DATABASE_NAME = settings.DATABASE_NAME
-        settings.DATABASE_NAME = old_database_name
         cursor = connection.cursor()
         _set_autocommit(connection)
         time.sleep(1) # To avoid "database is being accessed by other users" errors.