The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research granted permission to build the facility on 5 June 2007 at a cost of €850 million, under the provision that it should be financed as a European project. The European XFEL GmbH that built and operates the facility was founded in 2009. Civil construction of the facility began on 8 January 2009. Construction of the tunnels was completed in summer 2012, and all underground construction was completed the following year. The first beams were accelerated in April 2017, and the first X-ray beams were produced in May 2017. XFEL was inaugurated in September 2017. The overall cost for the construction and commissioning of the facility is as of 2017 estimated at €1.22 billion (price levels of 2005).