A structural hysteresis associated with domain orientation during poling and thermal depoling of lead titanate zirconate (PZT) ceramics has been observed. The poled materials appear to lose their piezoelectric properties at a temperature somewhat below the Curie temperature and yet the domain configurations remain unchanged. The above phenomenon is successfully explained by a model which predicts that upon thermal depolarization, poled ceramics undergo transformation from the poled state into the antiferroelectric state before returning back to their original unpoled state.