During the rediscovery of the temple there was much debate surrounding its origins. Many attributes lend themselves to theories that Bayon is a Hindu temple — yet it is widely concluded that the temple was built in the late 12th or early 13th century as the state temple of the Mahayana Buddhist King Jayavarman VII.
Some believe the king moved through three phases of belief — first giving primacy to Buddha, then to Lokeshvara, and finally to a Tantric form of Buddhism. Throughout the temple and its bas-reliefs there are a multitude of scenes related to Hinduism, reflecting this complex spiritual history.
The Bayon stands at the heart of Angkor Thom. Its 54 Gothic towers are decorated with 216 gargantuan smiling faces of Avalokiteshvara. Some speculate that the Khmer Empire was divided into 54 provinces at the time of Bayon's construction — hence 54 pairs of all-seeing eyes keeping watch over the kingdom's outlying subjects.