diff --git a/activerecord/lib/active_record.rb b/activerecord/lib/active_record.rb
index 348e5b94af..1aaf456c0f 100644
--- a/activerecord/lib/active_record.rb
+++ b/activerecord/lib/active_record.rb
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ module ActiveRecord
     [Base, DynamicFinderMatch, ConnectionAdapters::AbstractAdapter]
   end
 
+  autoload :VERSION, 'active_record/version'
+
   autoload :ActiveRecordError, 'active_record/base'
   autoload :ConnectionNotEstablished, 'active_record/base'