The storehouse known as "B5" (background) is the outstanding surviving exemplar of the My Son A1 style. From the 4th to the 14th century AD, the valley at Mỹ Sơn was a site of religious ceremony for kings of the ruling dynasties of Champa, as well as a burial place for Cham royalty and national heroes. It was closely associated with the nearby Cham cities of Indrapura (Đồng Dương) and Simhapura (Trà Kiệu). At one time, the site encompassed over 70 temples as well as numerous stele bearing historically important inscriptions in Sanskrit and Cham.

The over 70 temples and tombs extant at Mỹ Sơn have been dated to the period between the 4th century and the 14th century AD. However, the inscriptions and other evidence indicate that earlier now defunct constructions probably were present from the 4th century. This stone linga is dated to the 10th century. It stands next to the temple known as "B4."

Following the conquest of central Vietnam by the Viet and the decline and eventual fall of Champa, the Mỹ Sơn complex fell into disuse and was largely forgotten. It was rediscovered in 1898 by the Frenchman M. C. Paris. A year later, members of the scholarly society called École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) began to study the inscriptions, architecture, and art of Mỹ Sơn. For purposes of identification, the French scholars assigned a letter to each of the principal groups of temples: A, A', B, C, D, E, F, G, H, K.

Mỹ Sơn is perhaps the longest inhabited archaeological site in Indochina, but a large majority of its architecture was destroyed by US carpet bombing during a single week of the Vietnam War.