The Technical University of Madrid or sometimes called Polytechnic University of Madrid (Spanish: Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, UPM) is a Spanish University, located in Madrid. It was founded in 1971 as the result of merging different Technical Schools of Engineering and Architecture, originating mainly in the 18th century. Over 35,000 students attend classes during the year. The Technical University of Madrid (UPM) was founded in 1971, although the majority of its Centres are over hundreds of years old and were founded in the 18th and 19th centuries. Each of them maintained their independence until being grouped together to form the UPM in 1971. It is no exaggeration to state that for over one and a half centuries great part of the history of Spanish technology has been written by the Schools of Architecture and Engineering of the UPM. They have been during a lot of years nearly the only and in some cases actually the only school. All of the important personalities in the area of teaching and research passed through their respective centres as students or lecturers.