This video shows why you are not allowed to touch the exhibits at museums

National Watch & Clock Museum

It's tempting, but don't touch exhibits at museums. Otherwise you might end up like this couple who destroyed a piece of art because they couldn't keep their hands to themselves. 

Earlier this week the National Watch and Clock Museum in Columbia, Pennsylvania, shared security video on YouTube of two visitors who couldn't follow directions and ruined a clock sculpture. 

The video, which is titled "Please Don't Touch!!!," shows a man and woman approach the elaborate wooden clock hanging on the wall to take a picture. Then the man pulls on parts of the clock, presumably trying to get it to work. One good yank is all it took to pry it from the wall, and it broke on the ground despite their efforts to catch it.

They walked off without even notifying museum staff. 

The museum isn't attempting to identify the couple or press charges. 

"Posting the video is not an effort on our part to shame anyone," museum director Noel Poirier told the "Minneapolis Star Tribune." "We did not want them to feel bad or persecuted as a result. We want to use [the video] to educate. When you come to a museum, play by the rules." 

The damaged clock was built by Minnesota artist James Borden, and it hung peacefully in the museum for over 20 years before its destruction on Tuesday.