How to route all requests to a subdirectory?

Question

Apache HTTP Server

Good day!
There is a code that should, in theory, route all requests to a subdirectory public:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ public/$1 [QSA,L]

But the files in the root are still available. And for non-existent files, a 500 error is returned.
Tell me please, what could be the problem?
The idea is that absolutely all requests are routed to the subdirectory public, and also close all files outside this directory for access. But something doesn't go according to plan :)
PS The tests were carried out on beget's hosting.

Answer 1

and religion does not allow to configure VirtualHost at once in public?