In 2014, the archaeologists Søren Sindbæk and Nanna Holm discovered the hitherto hidden Viking castle castle ring on a field outside the village of Lellinge, near Køge. Prior to their discovery, they had discussed the possibility that there was yet another ring castle of the Trelleborg type on Zealand. Using Lidar photos of the landscape and gradiometer measurements, they could see a perfect circle, more than 100 metres in diameter, emerging out of the landscape. After a test excavation, their assumption was confirmed. There was indeed a Viking fortress in the form of a ring castle.
In 2015, the Danish Castle Centre and the University of Aarhus, with support from the A.P. Møller og Hustru Chastine Mc-Kinney Møllers Fond til almene Formaal, Køge Municipality and the National Museum of Denmark, embarked upon the development of a project, which would not only involve excavating important sections of the Castle Ring, but also disseminating the excavation, finds and the Viking Age for interested visitors. This is how the project was born. The concept of the project was then developed and the project designed by the Development Department of the Museum Southeast Denmark.
The name means 'Viking Castle' or 'Viking Fortress'. Ever since the Castle was discovered in 2014, the project has attracted huge international attention. Vikings are a popular topic in many parts of the world, so we expect quite a lot of foreign visitors to the Borgring (the name of the sight) . To facilitate communication we use the name “Vikingeborgen”, because we believe that it will be easier to understand and ring more bells than 'Borgring'.