Chulalongkorn University, a prestigious institution in Thailand, issued an apology Monday for a mural of Adolf Hitler painted outside one of its buildings.
The university apologized in a statement following criticism of the mural painted outside its Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts building, The Associated Press reported.
The mural, which was meant to be a congratulatory billboard for graduates, depicted Hitler among comic book superheroes such as Superman, Batman and the Incredible Hulk. It was up for two days before being removed on Saturday.
“[We] would like to formally express our sincere apology for our students’ ‘Superhero’ mural,” art school dean Suppakorn Disatapundhu stated. “I can assure you we are taking this matter very seriously.”
He said he spoke with the students, and they claimed their intention was misunderstood. “The students only wanted to show through the mural that different superheroes are there to protect the world and that there are both good and evil people,” Disatapundhu explained. Hitler was painted gray, while the other superheroes are in color.
