[imagesource: AP]

Art museums and their priceless display pieces can sometimes bear the brunt of angry people.

The Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris was caked by an irate climate change activist dressed as a disabled woman not so long ago.

More recently, a 21-year-old man took out his anger on a number of Greek artefacts at the Dallas Museum of Art.

The Texas man smashed through the museum’s glass front entrance with a metal chair. He then used a hand sanitiser stand to break the glass display cases holding a couple of priceless, rare, ancient artefacts, which he threw to the ground and destroyed in his rage.

Brian Hernandez’s excuse for this rampage was that he “got mad at his girl”, reported All Things Interesting:

When museum security noticed a motion sensor alarm going off, they went to investigate — and found Hernandez in the middle of his rampage.

Image: Dallas County Sheriff’s Department

KXAS reports that Hernandez told the guards he’d destroyed the art because “he got mad at his girl so he broke in and started destroying property.”

The Dallas Museum of Art also released a statement:

“No one was harmed, and the individual was not carrying weapons,” DMA explained in a statement. “This was an isolated incident perpetrated by one individual acting alone, whose intent was not theft of art or any objects on view at the Museum. However, some works of art were damaged, and we are still in the process of assessing the extent of the damages.”

They added: “While we are devastated by this incident, we are grateful that no one was harmed.”

Before the security guards finally stopped him, he had managed to destroy an estimated $5 million worth of art, although the museum is still assessing the damage and a dollar figure hasn’t been officially ascribed.

Image: Courtesy of the Dallas Museum of Art

A list of what he wrecked makes for sad reading:

…Hernandez “seriously damaged” a number of ancient Greek artifacts, including a black drinking cup called a “kylix” from 550-530 B.C.E., an amphora from the sixth century B.C.E. decorated with images of the Trojan War, and a lidded vessel called a “pyxis” from 450 B.C.E.

Image: Courtesy of the Dallas Museum of Art;

The Washington Post additionally reports that, during his rampage… he grabbed a “Native American Batah Kuhuh Alligator Gar Fish Effigy Bottle statue.” He then threw it on the ground.

According to museum director Agustin Arteaga, he wasn’t out to gain anything besides smashing as much as he could in anger.

Hernandez has been charged with criminal mischief greater than $300 000 and is being held on a bond of $100 000 after confessing to police that he’d destroyed the art.

[source:allthingsinteresting]