Despite being under construction for 137 years, Antoni Gaudi's Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona, Spain has never had proper building permits. That is, until now. 

CNN reports that Barcelona's chief urban planner announced last week that the city council had finally awarded the committee responsible for the cathedral's construction with a building license. In exchange for the license, the group agreed to pay 4.6 million euros to fund additional mitigation measures to address the impact the cathedral's 4.5 million annual visitors have on surrounding areas. 

According to the committee, Gaudi applied for a building permit from the local authorities back in 1882, but apparently, he never heard back.  That did not, however, stop the architect from starting construction that year, a monumental task that has been going strong for over a century and is due to be completed in 2026. 

The committee was fined $41 million in fees over the nonexistent permits in 2018.

Now that the building permits are in proper order, the consortium managing the construction of the UNESCO World Heritage Site can get to work on the second phase of construction, which will include finishing the narthex on the cathedral's "Glory" facade. Coming work will also include bringing improvements to the areas surrounding the structure.