Two stone inscriptions originating from the Old Summer Palace were found abandoned next to a bicycle shed at Peking University, with cavities stuffed full of rubbish and covered in dust, Beijing Youth Daily reported on Friday.

The cultural relics were recently discovered by Liu Yang, a council member of the Beijing Folklore of History and Geography Association. He reported in a micro blog post that the two stone carving relics had been left outdoors without protection after being excavated from a construction site at Peking University in 2012.

Due to historical reasons, the stone relics were moved from the Old Summer Palace, also known as Yuan Ming Yuan in Chinese, and forgotten at the university in the 1970s, Liu said.

The carvings were dug up during construction in 2012, according to a property manager surnamed Li of the Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology, which the relics were found next to.

The museum's 24-hour camera surveillance keeps the relics safe, Li said.

The publicity department of the university said it would respond to the matter after consulting the university's cultural relics preservation department.