After a national search, the Rothko chapel in Houston Abdullah Antepli selected as the new guide. Mr. Antepli, who held the title of President, competes with David Leslie, who retired in June 2025 after ten years in the chapel.
In a press release from Rothko Chapel, Mr. Antepli is identified as “one of the most respected leaders in the world in intercultural and interreligious dialogue”. The Houston Chronicle called him “an imam born in Turkish and globally recognized interreligious leader” and “one of the few imams praying before the congress, and a man who was banished from several countries”-including his home country “because of his criticism of religious extremism”.
Abdullah Antepli. Photo: With the kind permission of the Sanford School of Public Policy from Duke University
Duke University reports that Mr. Antepli is leaving his position as a professor and director of the Polis Center for Politics at the Sanford School of Public Policy. He was the university's first Muslim chaplain and later served as the main representative of Muslim affairs and deputy director of the Duke Islamic Studies Center. The Rothko chapel reports that Mr. Antepli was honored by the anti-defamation League with Daniel Pearl Award for his work to build up bridges between Jews and Muslims and to promote peace and religious tolerance.
Mr. Antepli said: “With great excitement and a deep sense of the purpose, I compete with the Rothko chapel – a sanctuary in which the saints, the artist and the just time converge. At a time when the world along the religious, partisan, partisan, and ideological lines that characterize itself on the way.
The Rothko chapel is a non-denominational spiritual venue, which was built by 14 monumental abstract paintings by the late American painter and Jewish immigrant Mark Rothko, who died in 1970.
Mr. Antepli will list the chapel in the middle of an expansion project of 42 million US dollars, which includes two new buildings – a program center and an administrative and archive building – which are to be opened in 2026.
Christopher Rothko, son of Mark Rothko and former chairman of the board, said: “Abdullah Antepli's work embodies the essence of the Rothko chapel mission -to strive for justice.
In order to learn more about the Rothko chapel that recently started a restoration project for paintings that were damaged during the Hurrican Berrikan in 2024, visit the website of the non -profit organization.