ALBANY — Albany Historical Society will hold its general meeting at 7 p.m. Feb. 19 at the Historical Museum, 119 N. Water St., Albany. 

The program will be a Nova video they purchased from PBS, “Secrets of The Forbidden City,” the world’s biggest and most extravagant palace complex ever built. For five centuries, it was the power center of the imperial China and survived wars, revolution, fires and earthquakes. How did fantastically intricate woodwork, all fastened without nails or glue, enable the palaces to survive hundreds of earthquakes, including recent ones that obliterated nearby modern structures? To find answers, NOVA joins a team of master craftsmen who build a scale model of a typical palace in a seismic lab, then subject it to simulated earthquakes to shake out the secrets of how the Forbidden City has withstood centuries of violent tremors.

This video is about one hour long. The meeting is open to the public.