Pope Francis is known for his simple, no-frills lifestyle. In fact, when he was elected pope, he decided not to live in the Vatican’s extravagant papal apartments. Instead, he opted for the Casa Santa Marta , a residence for visiting clergy and laypeople that he stayed in during the papal conclave. So when it comes to the pope’s travel, it’s only fitting that the host countries keep celebrations and decor as low-key as the pontiff. Take a look at the chairs specially designed and constructed for Pope Francis’s first visit to the U.S., plus his trips to Sri Lanka and Bosnia-Herzegovina earlier this year.

Students at Catholic University of America’s School of Architecture and Planning designed the chair, altar, and ambo for the pope’s outdoor mass in Washington, D.C., as part of a competition sponsored by the Archdiocese of Washington and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The winning design echoes the Basilica’s Romanesque-Byzantine style, and the chair’s simple, high arch is intended to showcase the pope.

About a dozen inmates at the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center designed, carved, upholstered, and decorated a nearly six-foot-tall walnut chair for Pope Francis’s visit to the city, Phillom reports . The inmates are part of PhilaCor, vocational programs throughout Philadelphia’s prison system intended to teach inmates skills that will help them get jobs after their release.

For Pope Francis’s mass at Madison Square Garden in New York, three men who are day laborers and also skilled carpenters constructed the chair, which is made of oak plywood with hardwood trim and white cushions, The New York Times reports . Cardinal Timothy Dolan wanted to honor immigrant laborers, and the Archdiocese of New York paid them $20 an hour and covered expenses, including breakfast and lunch. A production design company in California designed the chair, altar, and lectern.

For the pope’s June visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina, wood-carver Salem Hajdarovac and his son, Edin, who are devout Muslims, were selected to build the pontiff’s chair, the Huffington Post reports . The local priest persuaded his parishioners to pay for materials, and the Hajdarovacs donated their services. The walnut chair depicts religious symbols such as the papal coat of arms and emblems of three Bosnian cathedrals.

When Pope Francis visited Sri Lanka in January, he sat in a chair built by carpenter Basil Mark Fernando, whose father, G. D. Fernando, constructed the altar and chair for Pope John Paul II’s mass in 1995. Fernando told Ceylon Today that the five-foot-tall mahogany chair doesn’t have as many wood carvings as the one his father built because Pope Francis prefers simplicity.