The palace in the historic center of Berlin has been a symbol-laden residence of the Hohenzollerns since its origins in the 15th century. However, this came to an end on November 9, 1918. Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated, and at the Reichstag building, the Social Democrat Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed the republic, after which the leader of the Spartacus League, Karl Liebknecht, declared the "free socialist republic of Germany" from a balcony of the Berlin Palace. As we know, nothing came of that, but the palace was nationalized after the end of the monarchy. But what happened next, until the palace was hit by bombs in World War II and the SED eventually had it blown up in 1950? Did the monumental building in the center of Berlin stand empty? Did it decay? Far from it! Christian Walther shows that during the Weimar Republic, the palace became a center of science and culture: the Museum of Applied Arts.