A roof ornament speculated to have been taken from Beijing's Summer Palace after it was apparently blown down by high winds, the Beijing Morning Post reported Wednesday.

The glazed statuette of an immortal riding a phoenix went missing from northwest eave of the Hall of Dispelling Clouds on Monday, according to The Mirror.

An employee at the site later discovered broken fragments from the fallen figurine on the ground nearby the hall.

"There were a lot of tourists here over Spring Festival, could it be that someone swiped it?" said Wu Xiaoping, a Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Protection Association member.

Summer Palace officials issued a statement Tuesday saying the elaborate piece was a replica installed in 2005 and the original was in storage. 

The ornament was replaced with a new replica Tuesday, reported the Beijing Morning Post.

The Summer Palace was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998.

Beijing Morning Post